Tempus Fugit
by Sara Wolfe
Summary: When a spell gone awry strands Paige and Henry in the past, Paige finds herself with an unexpected opportunity - to meet, and maybe save, the sister she's never known.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: **Yes, I'm writing Charmed fanfic, again, after four years away from fandom. I've had this idea in the back of my head for the last four years, and seeing reruns with Paige and Henry reignited my enthusiasm.

**Tempus Fugit**

**Chapter One**

Henry slammed his car to a stop in front of the Halliwell Manor and sprinted out of the car, only to be stopped, cold, by what he saw.

Or, rather, what he didn't see.

The Manor, to be specific. The once-majestic house had been reduced to little more than a pile of smoldering rubble.

Heart in his throat, he ran the rest of the way up the walk, looking around anxiously.

"Paige!" he yelled, skidding to a stop in the middle of the destruction. "Paige, where are you?"

A glint of color caught the corner of his eye and he whirled around to see a foot poking out of the rubble. He began digging, frantically, ignoring the pain in his hands as he tossed aside blisteringly hot pieces of the house.

Finally, he'd uncovered enough of the body to clearly see a face, and he felt a sharp pang of relief, followed by guilt, as he stared down at Phoebe's still features.

"Paige!" he called, again, still determined to find his wife.

A crash drew his attention away from Phoebe's body, and he scrambled over a pile of debris toward the source of the noise. Several yards away, he could see a dark-haired figure hunched over a broken pile of wood, the Book of Shadows clutched in her arms.

"Paige?" he called out, hesitantly, starting cautiously toward the woman.

Then he froze a few feet away, backing away slowly as Christy Jenkins lifted her head and glared at him. Her long blonde hair was made dark by the blood matted in it, and her hands were covered with more of the same. Billie's body was sprawled at her feet, her chest a bloody mess, and Henry figured that Christy had been trying to revive her sister.

"Where's Paige?" he demanded of the younger woman, keeping a wary eye on her hands in case she decided to start shooting off fireballs.

Christy growled low in the back of her throat, advancing on him with a murderous look in her eyes. Her hands twitched and Henry stumbled backward, away from the fire that leapt to life in front of him. He yelled in pain when the fire scorched his hands, the flames following him, licking at his boots and the legs of his jeans.

Then, the flames died down as quickly as they had appeared, and he looked up in shock in time to see Christy crumple to the ground. Paige stood behind the unconscious woman, a jagged piece of wood clutched in her hands. She glared down at Christy, a furious snarl twisting her face, and her hands tightened on the piece of wood.

"Paige," Henry said, softly, and her head snapped up, the wood falling from her suddenly-limp hands when she saw him.

Wordlessly she stumbled forward, practically falling into his embrace. Henry wrapped his arms around her, holding on tightly and shaking with suppressed emotion.

"I thought I'd lost you," he whispered, brokenly, and he could feel Paige's head shake from where she'd buried her face against his chest.

Then, she pulled away from him, and when he looked down, there were tear tracks streaking down her face.

"Piper's dead," she said, without preamble. "And Phoebe… I've lost everyone."

Her voice broke in a sob, and she squeezed her eyes shut to stem the flood of tears. Henry hugged her again, feeling her shoulders shake under his hands.

Suddenly, he saw movement behind Paige and he instinctively jerked his wife behind him even as he pulled his gun out its holster. Christy staggered toward them, flames forming on her outstretched hands, and Henry acted without thinking.

He pulled the trigger twice, watching dispassionately as the younger woman fell backward, blood from the gunshots blossoming on her chest. Paige moved past him to yank the Book of Shadows out of Christy's lifeless hands.

"I have to fix this," she said, and Henry winced at the utter despair he heard in her voice.

"How?" he asked, quietly.

"I don't know!" Paige exploded, suddenly, but Henry didn't let himself back down in the face of her anger.

Instead, he wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her as she sobbed, wildly. He didn't know how long they stood there, but the sound of screaming sirens shook them out of the trance they'd fallen into.

"Paige," he said, with quiet urgency, "honey, we need to get out of here."

Paige nodded, dashing away the tears that were blinding her. Then, she grabbed Henry by the arm and orbed them away, but to his surprise, they only went as far as the other side of the street. They ducked down behind the neatly-trimmed shrubs, Henry keeping a careful lookout while Paige flipped rapidly through the pages of the Book.

"What are you looking for?" he hissed, watching as she left bloody fingerprints on the pages.

"The spell that's going to fix this," Paige replied, distractedly.

"Are you sure that one even exists?" Henry asked, uncertainly. He may not have known a lot about magic, but he couldn't imagine anything that could fix the destruction that faced them.

"It does," Paige said, grim determination in her voice. "There is a way to fix this, and I'm going to find it. The Charmed Ones are not going to end like this. My family isn't going to die like this."

Her voice cracked with the strain, and she took a shuddery breath to get herself back under control. Then, fixing an emotionless mask back on her face, she kept looking through the Book.

"Found it," she said, at last, and Henry let out a quiet sigh of relief.

The police that had shown up to the destroyed Manor were still busy poking around the ruins of the house, but it was only a matter of time before they started talking to the neighbors. And Henry wanted to be long gone before they showed up.

"Hear these words," Paige started, softly, "hear the rhyme. Heed the hope within my mind. Send me back-"

"Us," Henry interrupted her, still keeping a wary eye on the goings-on across the street.

"What?" Paige demanded, keeping her voice down as she stared at him.

"Send us back," Henry corrected her, gently. "You're not going without me."

He had only the vaguest idea what Paige's spell was hinting at, but he knew he didn't want the woman he loved walking into it, alone.

"Henry, this is dangerous," Paige hissed, quietly. "Billie and Christy are dangerous."

Very deliberately, Henry drew his gun from where he'd replaced it in his holster. He moved the slide forward to check the magazine and then let it settle back into place with a click.

"So am I," he said, quietly, and after a minute, Paige nodded.

"Hear these words," she began, again, "hear the rhyme. Heed the hope within my mind. Send us back to where we'll find what we wish, in place and time."

For several moments, nothing happened, and then a dazzling light filled his vision, blinding him. When the light cleared, he and Paige were still crouched behind the bushes, and for a wild second, he thought that the spell had failed. But, then he realized that they'd gone from night to day in a matter of seconds, the sun beating down on them. Risking a glance around the edge of the bushes, he saw the Manor standing whole and undamaged.

"You did it," he told Paige, who breathed a quiet sigh of relief from where she was still kneeling, with the Book cradled in her arms. "We really went back in time," he went on, wonderingly.

"Let's just hope we went back far enough," Paige replied, taking his outstretched hand and letting him pull her to her feet.

"It's the middle of the day," he pointed out, as they dashed across the street. "Billie and Christy aren't going to attack until later tonight."

He realized, as they were walking up to the front door, that he was still holding Paige's hand. But, he couldn't bring himself to let go, even for a few seconds. Which was why he wound up rooting around in the planter for the spare key when Paige realized that her keys weren't in any of her pockets. As he looked for the key, Paige was looking around the neighborhood, a frown on her face.

"Something wrong?" he asked, when he saw the troubled expression on her face.

"I don't remember Mrs. Donaldson's house being for sale this morning," Paige told him, nodding at the realtor's sign planted at the edge of the front yard.

"You were a little busy trying to stop the Ultimate Power," he pointed out, sensibly. "You probably just missed it."

"Yeah, maybe," she agreed, and then he got the door open and they went inside.

"So, what now?" Henry asked. "Do we call your sisters?"

"Attic, first," Paige decided, heading for the stairs. "I want to get as much of this figured out as I can, before I start trying to explain it to Piper and Phoebe."

As he was following Paige up the stairs, Henry paused at the first landing, his attention caught by a painting on the wall.

"Hey," he said, squeezing Paige's hand to get her attention as they stopped. "Didn't that picture of your grandmother get torched two weeks ago?"

"Three," Paige replied, giving the painting a puzzled look, "by a Canzite demon."

"So what's it doing on the wall?" Henry asked.

"Maybe we went back further than just this morning," Paige said, with a shrug.

"Yeah, but how far?" he pressed.

"Far enough for me to save my sisters," Paige replied. "That's all I care about."

"Hey," Henry said, again, stopping her before she could keep going up the stairs. "If we went back far enough that we haven't met yet, then you better be planning on marrying me, again."

Paige tugged at his hand until he came up the stairs to her level, then she leaned over and kissed him, deeply.

"I will always marry you," she told him, when they'd parted.

"I'm going to hold you to that," Henry said, smiling. "I love you, so much."

"Love you, too," Paige murmured, resting her forehead against his, for a moment.

When they entered the attic, the Book started twitching in Paige's arms, immediately. She made an effort to hold onto the Book, but it flew out of her arms, sailing over to the lectern where the past version of the same Book was resting. Both Books started glowing, and then, as they watched in amazement, the two Books melded together into one.

"Did you know it was going to do that?" Henry asked, and Paige shook her head, wordlessly.

"We've never brought the Book back with us," she replied, still looking stunned.

Moving across the room over to the lectern, she flipped rapidly through the pages of the Book, her eyes scanning the pages as they turned.

"It's all here," she said, as she stopped going through the Book. "Everything we've added to the Book over the years is here. It's like it updated itself."

"That's handy," Henry remarked. Crossing the room to join Paige, he had to swerve around a couch he didn't remember ever seeing, before. "And that's new."

"That's Aunt Pearl's couch," Paige explained, glancing up from the Book. "It was blown up three years ago, when a demon made Piper go blind."

"So, we've gone back in time three years?" he asked, incredulously.

"Or so," Paige hedged, carefully.

"Please tell me we didn't go back in time before your sisters even found out about being witches," Henry groaned, a possibility he didn't even want to contemplate, right now.

"No, no, we're good, there," Paige assured him, quickly. "We couldn't have gotten into the attic, otherwise. Apparently, Grams had it locked before then."

"So, how far did we go back in time?" Henry asked. "I mean, it would be nice to know if your sisters are going to recognize us when they get home."

"There's a calendar in the kitchen," Paige told him. "I'll be right back."

She orbed away in a bright swirl of lights, reappearing a few seconds later. There was the calendar from the kitchen wall in her hands, and she was staring down at it in shock.

"So, when did we arrive?" Henry asked, but he started to get worried when Paige didn't say anything. "Paige, honey? What's wrong?"

"This calendar is from five years ago," she finally said, her voice shaky. "From May of two thousand one."

"And?" Henry prompted, gently, when she fell silent, again.

"Prue died in May," she said, and when she looked up, there were tears shining in her eyes. "May seventeenth."

"Do you think we're in time?" Henry asked, knowing what she was thinking without even having to ask.

"We have to be," Paige said, taking a deep breath to calm herself down as she wiped at the tears in her eyes. "I don't think I could deal with it if we were a day late."

"You said the spell so that you could come back to save your sisters," Henry pointed out, thinking about it. "Now, you can save all of them."

"I can't believe I'm going to finally get to meet Prue," Paige said, flipping through the pages of the Book, again.

"What are you looking for?" Henry asked, watching her go past page after page.

"The Shax vanquishing spell," Paige told him, a hint of frustration in her voice. "I don't want to give him another chance at my sisters, and I could use a little help!"

The last part, yelled as she glared up at the ceiling, was definitely not directed at him, and he was glad that her irritation was aimed at her dead relatives. But, yelling seemed to have worked, with the pages of the Book suddenly flipping on their own until they came to rest at the picture of a gray, hooded demon.

"Thanks, Grams," Paige said, absently, as she grabbed a notepad and pen off of a nearby table and started scribbling the words of the spell down.

She'd just gotten the pen capped when they heard the sound of the door slamming open, downstairs.

"Showtime," Paige declared, heading for the door.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

As they descended the stairs, they could hear an indistinct rumble of voices that eventually formed into words. They reached the first landing in time to see Piper and a woman with short, dark hair pushing a man in a white lab coat into the sun room.

"Prue," Paige whispered, and Henry squeezed her shoulder, supportively.

"Any sign of Shax?" he hissed, looking around.

"Not yet," Paige answered, and then a yell split the air.

Swearing under her breath, Paige sprinted down the rest of the stairs, with Henry right on her heels. They burst into the sunroom just as the demon had cornered the sisters and their Innocent against a wall.

"Shax!" Paige yelled, and Henry could hear the desperation in her voice.

The demon turned at the sound of his name, and Piper took the opportunity to push the Innocent through the French doors and out onto the patio. Paige, meanwhile, had shoved Henry to the side, diving to the floor to avoid the energy ball the demon had launched at them. She landed on top of him, but scrambled to her feet and bolted across the open space to join her sisters.

She'd nearly reached them when Shax threw another energy ball, the blast striking Paige in the chest. She flew backward, her mouth open in a silent scream, and then she crashed through the doors in a deafening shower of glass.

There was someone screaming, and after a minute, Henry realized that it was him. Heedless of his own safety, he ran to Paige's side, falling to his knees when he reached her. He ignored the glass cutting into his legs as he reached out to pull her into his arms. He thought that he was too late, that she was already gone, but to his amazement, her eyes fluttered open, focusing weakly on him.

"Vanquishing spell," she croaked out, and he reached out to take the tattered piece of paper from her clenched fist.

"I've got an idea," he said, and then, hating himself for it, he lay her gently back on the ground. "Hold on, you hear me?"

Sprinting over to where Piper and Prue were still fighting the demon, he grabbed both of their arms and started dragging them backward, using surprise and his greater strength to his advantage.

"What the hell?" Prue exploded at him. "Who are you people?"

Henry ignored her until he'd reached Paige, again, where the Innocent had his lab coat bunched over the wound in her chest in an attempt to stop the bleeding.

"This is the spell you need," he said, tersely, kneeling and cradling Paige in his arms, again. "Grab her hands and say it."

"Who are you?" Prue repeated, angrily. "Who is she?"

"She's your sister," Henry snapped, craning his head around to see Shax advancing on them, slowly.

The demon hadn't fired off another energy ball, but he had the feeling that Shax was playing with them like a cat played with a mouse before it killed it. The comparison made him want to get sick.

"Our sister," Piper said, incredulously, hearing him, and that was when he lost his patience.

"Just take her hands and say the damn spell!" he yelled, startling them both into action.

Something wordless passed between the women as they looked at each other, and then they dropped down to either side of him and Paige, reaching out and taking one her hands in each of their own. Paige let out a raspy breath at the contact, and he could feel his heart seize up in fear when he realized that they didn't have a lot of time.

"Hurry it up," he urged, holding his wife even closer.

He could hear them saying the spell, but he didn't pay it any real attention. All of his attention was focused on Paige, on the agonizingly slow rise and fall of her chest, on the way he could see blood pooling on her lips as she breathed.

_'Stay with me,'_ he begged, silently, not willing to talk in case it screwed up the spell.

There was a sudden scream like a dying animal that jolted him into looking up, and he watched as Shax exploded, creating a gust of wind that knocked out half the windows in the sun room. And when he looked back down, Paige was gone.

Her once-vibrant eyes stared blankly up at him, her mouth gone slack as a trickle of blood ran down the side of her face. There was no movement of her chest, and she was too still when he reached out with a shaky hand to brush her hair back from her face.

"No," he begged, his voice coming out as a broken sob. "No, please."

"She's dead," he heard Piper say, as if from a distance, and that was what broke him.

He curled around Paige's body, sobbing helplessly as he clutched her body to his chest. He could feel a hand on his shoulder but he ignored the contact, blocking out Prue and Piper's attempts to get his attention. Then, suddenly, he was thrown off balance when Paige's body abruptly disappeared from his arms, a bright swirl of lights blinding him.

He staggered to his feet as the light faded from in front of his eyes, but Paige was gone. And those bright lights could only mean one thing.

"Give her back!" he screamed, ignoring the startled looks he was getting from Piper and Prue as he yelled at the Elders. "Give her back, damn you!"

There was no answer, not that he really expected one, and he stared at the spot where Paige had died, feeling as though he'd just aged twenty years in a moment. He looked up at the feel of a hand on his shoulder, and he turned to see Piper looking at him, sympathetically.

"What?" he asked, dully, not even caring if he seemed rude.

"Are you okay?" she asked, but her voice seemed to be coming at him from a distance, as the world disappeared in a shower of bright lights.

When his vision cleared, he found himself standing in a completely white space, the ground beneath his feet resembling clouds. He looked down, instinctively, and when he saw clear blue sky underneath the clouds, he realized that it wasn't ground that he was standing on.

There was a buzzing in his ears as the world swam in front of his eyes. He staggered away from the endless expanse beneath his feet, wondering if at any moment he was going to plunge through the clouds and fall to his death.

Then, his steps backward were stopped by a hand on his back, and he lifted his head to see a figure in a golden, hooded robe standing behind him, holding him up.

"It's easier if you don't look down," a woman's voice said, and she pushed the hood away from her head to reveal a familiar face surrounded by short, blonde hair.

"Sandra," he said, quietly, and the woman raised a curious eyebrow at him.

"I'd love to know how a mortal knows of our existence," she told him, "let alone is able to name us at will."

"My wife is-" he flinched when he caught his slip, "-was a Whitelighter. You were one of her advisors in the future."

"So, you've traveled in time," Sandra said. "Some of us were wondering." At Henry's curious look, she elaborated, "We've been keeping an eye on the two of you since you arrived. We saw what you did with Shax and the Charmed Ones. You saved their lives."

"Why didn't you save Paige's life?" he asked, feeling his anger start up all over, again. "Why did you just let her die?"

"Who lives and who dies is not our choice," Sandra told him. "Although, I'm surprised that a Whitelighter succumbed to Shax's attack so easily."

"What are you talking about?" Henry demanded, confused. "I thought you Elders knew about Paige."

Whatever Sandra was about to say in reply was cut off by a throat being cleared from behind them. A guilty look flashed across the Elder's face as she turned to face the other standing behind them.

"You're supposed to be bringing the mortal into the meeting space," the Elder, Henry thought he might have been called Odin, said, sternly.

"Right away," Sandra said, through gritted teeth, and Henry was reminded why Paige had liked the other woman so much. "You officious, little prig," she muttered, under her breath, and he found himself biting back a grin as he followed her through a pair of columns.

He could feel a tingle run over his skin as he passed through the columns and when he turned back to look, all he could see was a gray fog that filled the air between the columns. Turning around, he saw a dozen robed Elders staring at him, solemn looks on most of their faces. Sandra, at the end of the line, as well as a couple of the others, didn't look so foreboding, and he wondered if they were on his side.

"So, am I on trial, here?" he demanded, when no one said anything.

"You are here to answer our questions," Odin told him.

"Only if you answer some of mine," Henry shot back, but it was clear that the Elder wasn't amused.

"First question," Odin said, "who are you? And who was that woman?"

"That was two questions," Henry muttered, snippily, and he thought he saw a smile flash across Sandra's face at his reply.

"Just answer me," Odin growled, and Henry sighed.

"My name is Henry Mitchell," he told the assembled group. "My wife was Paige Matthews, the last of the Charmed Ones. We came back from the year two thousand six, after a battle with the Ultimate Power left Piper and Phoebe Halliwell dead."

"There are only three Charmed Ones," one of the hooded Elders spoke up.

"In the future we came from," Henry explained, feeling very tired all of a sudden, "Prue died, today, killed by Shax. And then the Charmed Ones were brought back when they discovered their long-lost sister, Paige."

"There are only three Charmed Ones," the Elder repeated, stubbornly.

"Actually, there are four," Henry told them. "_Were_ four," he corrected, a second later, a spasm of pain lancing through his heart. "At least, there was before Paige died."

"How is this possible?" the stubborn Elder demanded, earning a disbelieving snort from one of the Elders standing beside Sandra.

"Has it really been that long, Jonas?" the Elder asked, wryly, getting a glare in response.

"What I meant, Remus," Jonas bit off, clearly upset, "is how could there be another Halliwell that we don't know about?"

"Obviously," Remus continued, undaunted, "Patty Halliwell had another child. One that she hid from us."

"And why would she do that?" Jonas demanded, furiously.

"Because the baby was half-Whitelighter," Henry said, wearily. "They gave Paige up to protect her from you."

"What, exactly, are you implying?" Odin demanded, but before Henry could say anything, a new voice spoke up.

"Oh, leave the boy alone, Odin." Henry turned around at the sound of the familiar voice, a slow smile spreading across his face. "If you have any questions, you can ask me."

Penny Halliwell stepped forward, placing herself squarely at his side as she glared at the line of Elders as though they were disobedient children. To his amusement, several of them were acting just like that, squirming uncomfortably under Penny's direct gaze like they'd just been caught getting into trouble.

Only Odin seemed immune to Penny's glare, stepping forward to confront the older woman.

"You aren't supposed to be here," he barked, and Penny laughed at him.

"When it concerns my family," she informed the Elder, "there are very few places that I can't go."

"Give it up, Odin," Remus told him, not even bothering to hide his smirk. "You, of all people, should know that when a Halliwell makes up her mind, there's no changing it. Especially Penny Halliwell."

Henry snorted out a laugh at the statement, and half the Elders in the room turned to glare at him. But, he couldn't bring himself to care; he felt numb, dizzy, a haze of exhaustion settling over him. it was like the burnout he'd seen other officers experience, when they'd taken in too much to handle.

"Remus used to be my Whitelighter," Penny confided in Henry, quietly, bringing his attention back to the present. Louder, she added, "The boy is coming with me. He has nothing else to tell you that you couldn't possibly figure out for yourselves. Now, if you'll excuse us-"

Slipping her hand into the crook of his elbow, Penny started steering him toward the fog-filled columns, and Henry had no choice but to follow. It was either that, or get pulled off his feet; Penny was surprisingly strong for a dead woman.

He followed her through the columns and back into the space where he'd first appeared. He looked back, half expecting to see a line of angry Elders following them, but they were alone.

"So," Penny said, looking him over. "You're the mortal my wayward granddaughter is so in love with."

"Don't worry," Henry assured her. "You'll grow to love me." Looking around, he added, "So, what now? Are they going to send me back to my time?"

"I don't know," Penny told him. "But, I brought you out here because there's someone who wants to talk to you."

"Who?" Henry asked, confused.

There was no one else around them, but then a swirl of lights coalesced in front of him. When the lights faded, Paige was standing in front of him. She was incredibly transparent, fading in and out of focus, but there was a soft smile on her face as she looked at him.

"I had to hold on long enough to say goodbye," she told him. "I couldn't leave without telling you how much I love you."

"I love you, too," Henry said, his voice choking up as he looked at her. Shaking his head, sadly, he added, "This isn't how I imagined our story would end."

"Don't think of it as ending," Paige told him. "We're just writing a new chapter."

She had faded almost completely from view, and when she came back into focus, he could see that she was holding herself there with an effort.

"I can't-" she started, and it sounded like she was in pain. "I love – Henry-"

And then she was gone, again, and this time, he knew it was for real. He let out a shaky breath as he stared at the place where she'd been standing, and he felt Penny lay a hand on his shoulder. Instead of pushing her away like he'd done with Piper and Prue, he let Penny pull him down into a hug, feeling her arms go tightly around him.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered, and the tears started up, again.

He let the tears fall, unashamedly, losing track of time as he stood there. He ignored everything that went on around them, blocking out the sound of angry voices that filled the space. Then, suddenly, he was jolted out of his reverie by Sandra's quiet voice.

"It's time," she said, and there was regret in her voice.

"Time for what?" Penny demanded, steel in her voice as she stepped between Henry and the gathered Elders.

"Time to get this situation taken care of, once and for all," Odin said, coldly, as he approached them. "We can't have two of him running around, after all."

"What does that mean?" Henry asked, nervously, looking between Penny and Odin, who were glaring at each other.

"You're not taking him," she snarled, and Henry felt sorry for all the demons who'd had to face the imposing witch over the years.

"That's not really your concern," Odin told her, and then with a wave of his hand, he sent her away, her defiant voice filling the air as she disappeared.

"What did you do to her?" Henry demanded, and Odin rolled his eyes.

"She's fine," he said, dismissively. "As for you, mortal-"

His voice trailed off, and Henry started to get a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. But, then Sandra interceded, laying a hand on Odin's arm to get him to back off.

"I'll take care of him," she said, quietly. "Don't worry, Odin. He won't be a problem to us, much longer."

"See that he isn't," Odin snapped, turning and stalking away.

"When you say that I won't be a problem any longer," Henry said, weakly, and Sandra shook her head, cutting him off.

"This won't hurt," she assured him, gently.

Then, she waved a hand in front of his face, and the world went black.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: **Thanks to everyone who's read and reviewed.

**Chapter Three**

Around midnight, Piper found Prue sitting in the middle of the attic, surrounded by maps. Maps of San Francisco, of Southern California, of the entire state, even of the country. Piper even thought she saw a map of the world mixed in with the rest. At the edge of the ragged circle of maps that surrounded Prue, the Book of Shadows lay open on the floor, its pages flipping every time she twitched her fingers.

A scrying crystal hung from her fingers, one of Phoebe's necklaces tangled in the chain where it was held in her tightly-clenched fist. The crystal was moving constantly over the maps, never staying in place for even a second, and Piper's heart sank at the implications.

Prue was scowling down at the maps, her brow furrowed in intense concentration as she focused her energy on the scrying crystal. Piper was almost loathe to interrupt her efforts, but they needed to talk.

"Find anything?" she asked, even though she figured that she already knew what the answer was.

Prue shook her head, wordlessly, letting her outstretched hand fall to her side. She sighed as she pushed herself to her feet, stepping carefully over the circle of maps as she bent down to pick the Book up off the floor.

"I've been looking all night," she replied, sounding exhausted. "There's no sign of Phoebe, anywhere. Not in San Francisco, not in the world."

Her voice cracked on the last word, and she sounded close to tears. Reaching over, Piper rubbed her back, comfortingly, leading her sister over to the couch in the corner.

"I was talking to Darryl, earlier," she told her. "He said that, officially, there's nothing he can do. He said that Phoebe has to be gone for forty-eight hours before she can be declared a missing person. Only after forty-eight hours can the police start looking for her."

Prue groaned, dropping her head into her hands as she took in what Piper told her.

"I can't believe we're even having this conversation," she said, quietly, her voice muffled by her hands. "Our sister is _not_ a missing person."

"Right," Piper said, without thinking. "We just can't find her. Or Cole, or Leo."

Prue reached over and squeezed her hand, comfortingly, when her voice broke on Leo's name.

"The Elders don't know where he is?" she asked, quietly.

"The Whitelighter they sent down, Gregory, said that no one Up There knows anything about Leo's whereabouts," Piper replied. "He just dropped off their radar and no one can find him."

"Did they have anything to say about our strange guests?" Prue asked.

"Gregory said that all of the Whitelighters are talking about them, but the Elders aren't saying a word," Piper told her.

"Do they know who they are?" Prue pressed. "I mean, are they witches, or Whitelighters-"

"According to the guy," Piper reminded her, "that woman was our sister."

"Which is impossible," Prue said, flatly, her tone inviting no argument.

"Then, how do you explain the vanquishing spell working?" Piper pointed out. "Shax was a high level demon; that spell was a Power of Three spell. Phoebe was supposed to be getting it while we went after Dr. Griffiths, remember?"

"But, those two came down with it, instead," Prue said, clearly frustrated. "I don't know how to explain it, Piper. But, it's impossible; we cannot have another sister."

"Maybe we should go to the source," Piper said, softly. "We should ask Mom."

"You light the candles," Prue said, in agreement. "I'll set the crystals up."

They cleared the floor in the middle of the attic, carefully folding the maps and setting them aside for later. While Piper gathered the pillar candles they used for summoning, Prue marked out a circle on the floor with a set of quartz crystals. Piper set the candles in between the gaps of the crystals, lighting them with a match. Then, she joined Prue at the lectern with the Book.

"Hear these words," they chanted, in practiced unison, "hear my cry, spirit from the other side. Come to me, I summon thee, cross now the Great Divide."

They waited in breathless anticipation, and after a few seconds, a swirl of lights appeared inside the crystal circle. When the lights coalesced into Patty's form, Piper let out a breath she hadn't even been aware she was holding.

"Mom," she said, happily.

"My girls," Patty greeted them, smiling. "But, where's Phoebe?"

"You mean, you don't know?" Prue asked, dismayed. "Mom, Phoebe's been missing ever since we went after Dr. Griffiths to protect him from Shax."

"Missing?" Patty asked, tremulously. "Have you tried scrying?"

"We've tried everything, Mom," Piper told her."Phoebe's just … gone."

"Mom," Prue cut in, reminding Piper why they'd summoned her in the first place, "we were attacked by Shax, earlier today."

"I know," Patty said. "I saw some of what happened."

"Then you saw the people who saved us," Prue said, bluntly.

"I did," Patty confirmed, although she sounded like the words had been dragged out of her, reluctantly.

"Who is she, Mom?" Prue demanded, not backing down for an instant. "Is she really our sister?"

Patty was silent for so long that Piper was afraid she wasn't going to answer. But, finally, she nodded, slowly.

"Her name is Paige," she said, quietly, while Piper and Prue stared at her in shock. "She's your younger sister."

"But, how is this possible?" Piper asked, finding her voice before Prue could.

"You remember my Whitelighter, Sam?" Patty asked. At their nods, she continued, "Well, he and I had more than just an affair. We had a child together."

"Why don't we remember this?" Prue asked, finally finding her voice. "We were old enough, weren't we?"

"You and Piper were," Patty told them. "But, Mother and I cast a spell to cloud your memories of that time."

"But, why?" Piper asked, baffled. "Why wouldn't you tell us about our sister? Why didn't we ever get to know her?"

"It was just too dangerous," Patty said, tearfully. "Whitelighters and witches were strictly forbidden to be together; Sam and I feared that there would be repercussions if they found out that we'd not only broken their rules, but had a daughter, as well."

"What kind of repercussions?" Prue wanted to know.

"We were afraid that you girls would be affected," Patty said. "We couldn't risk you losing your powers for good, losing the Charmed Ones. And we were afraid of what the Elders might do to Paige if they found out about her."

"You thought they might take her away," Prue guessed.

"Or worse," Patty confirmed. "As painful as it was, the thought of having her live with strangers was still better than the alternative."

"So, you gave her up?" Piper asked, and Patty nodded.

"Sam and I left her at a local church," she told them. "There was a nun, Sister Agnes, who promised to find her a good home. We left knowing that we would probably never see her, again."

"Well, she found us, anyway," Prue said. "She's a witch, Mom. She helped us vanquish Shax."

"I saw," Patty said. "But, things are more complicated than that, and she'll be in danger. You have to find her."

"What are you talking about?" Piper demanded. "She died, Mom. Prue and I watched her bleed to death."

"She disappeared," Prue reminded her. "Maybe the Elders healed her?"

Both of them looked hopefully at Patty, but she just shook her head.

"That's the part that's complicated," she told them. "That Paige came back from the future, to change it. She was a Charmed One in the future, and that's how she was able to say the vanquishing spell with you. She's the one who died."

"So, you're saying that we still have a sister out there?" Piper asked, cautiously. "One from this time, who doesn't know she's a witch, doesn't know about demons, and doesn't know about us?"

"Exactly," Patty said, and then she looked up, listening to a sound only she could hear.

When she looked back down, there was an apologetic look on her face.

"I'm sorry, darlings," she said. "I have to go. They're calling me."

She disappeared before either of them could protest, and Prue scowled as she slammed the Book shut.

"Well, that's just great," she said, irritably. "Not only is Phoebe still missing, but we have a brand new sister that we have to find, as well."

"We will," Piper reassured her, firmly. "Demons are not going to get either of them. We're going to find our sisters and bring them home, safely."

"I hope you're right," Prue said, with a heavy sigh.

"Come on," Piper said, slinging an arm around Prue's shoulders and steering her toward the attic door. "Let's get some sleep. We'll pick this up in the morning."

"Yeah," Prue agreed, quietly. "I just hope that we're not too late. For either of them."


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: **Thanks so much to everyone who's read and reviewed. You guys are fantastic!

**Chapter Four**

Henry woke up to the shrill sound of his alarm clock, the newscaster droning about a protest marching the length of Lombard Street. Rolling over with a groan, he slapped the snooze button just as the news segued into a string of advertisements, plunging the room into blessed silence.

With his eyes still closed, he rolled back over, bumping into a body sprawled out beside him in the bed. He wrapped his arm around a slim waist, smiling as he dropped a kiss onto the curve of a graceful neck.

"Morning," he mumbled, his voice still rough with sleep.

The body in his arms shifted, soft lips brushing against his own.

"Good morning," came the soft reply, and his eyes flew open at the voice that was most definitely not Paige's.

"Amanda?" he blurted, staring in shock at the ex-girlfriend he hadn't seen in almost five years.

The blonde woman lying beside him propped herself up on an elbow as she stared at him in amusement.

"Were you expecting someone else?" she asked, wryly.

_'Yes, actually,'_ Henry thought, but he had enough self control not to voice the thought out loud. _'I was expecting my wife,'_ he thought, the shock of losing Paige hitting him all over again.

But, Amanda was still waiting for an answer, so he forced a grin onto his face.

"Who else could I possibly have been expecting?" he asked, and she laughed, leaning forward to kiss him, again.

He returned her kiss, quickly, falling back against his pillow and staring up at the ceiling. His mind was whirling, and he didn't know what to think.

"I don't suppose you know the date?" he asked.

"It's the eighteenth," Amanda told him, which wasn't quite the answer he was looking for.

"What about the year?" he asked, and Amanda gave an incredulous laugh.

"Exactly how much did you have to drink last night?" she demanded, playfully, and Henry shrugged, helplessly. "It's two-thousand-one," she informed him, after a few moments. "Anything else you've forgotten since last night?"

Her tone was teasing, but Henry couldn't bring himself to smile. Instead, he sat up, abruptly, headed for the bathroom.

"Henry?" Amanda demanded, incredulously, "Henry, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," he muttered, dismissively.

He knew he was being rude to Amanda, but he couldn't help it. His memories of the woman were tainted by their last encounter. He couldn't even remember what their last fight had been about, but he remembered the yelling, the tears, and the frying pan she'd chucked at his head before storming out.

And he remembered drinking himself into a stupor for three days straight after she'd walked away, convinced that he'd just lost the one, great love of his life. It had taken his best friend dragging him into the bathroom and dousing him in a freezing cold shower to completely wake him up.

That woman, the one who'd hated him, wasn't the same one who was standing behind him in the doorway, watching him with a worried expression on her face. That woman wouldn't make an appearance for at least another six months, on the same night he'd been planning to propose to her. But, he couldn't bring himself to separate the two in his mind.

"Henry," Amanda pressed, insistently, and he finally looked at her when she placed a hand on his shoulder.

"What is wrong with you?" she asked, and he sighed.

"Amanda, what are we doing here?" he asked.

"What?" she asked, confused. "You mean, here in your apartment?"

"No, I mean, us, here," he said, not sure how to explain it any better than that. "What are we doing in this relationship?"

"What brought this on?" Amanda asked, quietly, and there was a distinctly worried tone in her voice.

"You and I both know this isn't going anywhere," he said, looking away from the concern on her face. "You hate my job, my friends, we have practically nothing in common-"

"What are you saying?" she asked, and he didn't look at her for fear of what he would see on her face.

"Maybe we should just end this," he said, and from behind him, Amanda gasped, and he could hear a sob in her voice. "Just stop before things get too complicated."

"Just give up, you mean," Amanda said, bitterness creeping into her tone. "Like you always do. My friends warned me about you, Henry. I guess they were right."

"I guess they were," Henry muttered, still not looking at her.

He'd wanted to deny her words, but she'd been speaking nothing less than the truth. Before Paige, his track record with relationships had been spotty at best. His job had gotten in the way more than once, leaving him to watch women walk away after they'd claimed to understand his devotion to his parolees, only to be unable to deal with the reality of the situation, with the long nights he put in, with the danger he sometimes found himself in. Amanda was just the latest in a long line.

With Paige, though, he'd not only found someone who truly understood, but whose devotion to her own charges matched his own. He hadn't realized just how amazing that was until it was gone. He hadn't realized until it was too late, until she was gone, how much he truly loved his wife.

Amanda was silent for a long time, but finally, out of the corner of his eye, he could see her turn and stalk back across the bedroom. Finally turning around, Henry watched her grab her clothes off the floor where they lay in a pile, practically tearing her clothes as she wrenched them on. Shoving her feet into an uncomfortable pair of shoes, she stomped through his apartment in a fury.

Stopping at the door, she turned and glared at him.

"Have a good life," she spit at him, and then she disappeared down the hallway, slamming the door behind her.

"Well, that went well," a new voice spoke up, cheerfully, and Henry whirled around in shock to see Sandra standing in the middle of his living room.

Then, he blushed bright scarlet when he realized that he was standing in the middle of his apartment, stark naked. Not that Sandra seemed to mind, if the smile on her face was any indication.

Henry wasn't going to give the Elder the satisfaction of seeing him run away, so he walked back into his bedroom with as much dignity as he could muster. He shut the door firmly in her face, hearing the woman's bright laughter behind him.

He got dressed, quickly, and when he went back into the living room, Sandra was sitting on the couch, her robes tucked neatly around her legs. She looked up as he entered, cocking an eyebrow at him.

"So, the show's over, already?" she asked, and he scowled at her, dropping down across from her in a chair.

"What am I doing here, Sandra?" he asked, bluntly. "After our little conversation, yesterday, I half expected to be dead, right now."

"Well, if Odin and his ilk had his way," Sandra told him, "then you would be. But, luckily for you, others thought differently."

"Luckily," Henry echoed, dryly. "I'm trapped in the past, I watched my wife die, yesterday, and I've lost everything. Tell me, again, how _lucky_ I am."

"You're alive," Sandra countered, with just as much bluntness. "And you get to live this time over, again."

"Yeah," Henry muttered, bitterly. "Alone. Just the way I always wanted."

"You know," Sandra told him, and from the testy tone in her voice she was losing patience with him, "some of my fellow Elders wanted to keep you in Up There, separated from this time and used as a source of information."

"Why didn't they?" Henry grumbled.

"Some of us, though," she went on, ignoring him, "felt that you deserved a reward for saving the Charmed Ones. So, we sent you back to Earth and merged you with your current self."

"And what good does that do me?" he muttered, and Sandra rolled her eyes.

"Think about it," she told him. "If there's a Henry Mitchell in this time-"

For several seconds, he couldn't see what she was hinting at, although it felt as though the answer was just floating out of reach. Then, suddenly, he got it.

"You mean, Paige is here, too?" he asked, breathlessly, finally catching on.

"Exactly," Sandra told him, and he sank back in his seat, weak with relief.

"She's alive?" he asked, softly, and Sandra smiled, understandingly.

"And maybe, this time, you two won't take five years to cross paths," she teased him, gently.

"But," Henry protested, even as he wondered what the hell he was doing, "doesn't that break some rules, or something?"

"I think it's a little late to be worried about rules at this point," Sandra said, laughing. "After all, just by saving Prue Halliwell's life, you've changed things more than anyone can anticipate."

"I can't thank you enough for this," Henry told her, still dazed. "This is incredible. You've given me a second chance with Paige."

"Only if you're brave enough to take it," Sandra reminded him.

She stood, and Henry suddenly was reminded of something she and the other Elders needed to know.

"Wait a minute," he said, quickly, before she could orb away.

"What is it?" Sandra asked, curiously.

"Billie and Christy Jenkins," Henry told her. "They're the witches in the future who killed Piper and Phoebe."

"That is the kind of information I was talking about, earlier," Sandra said.

"You have to stop them," Henry said. "Bind their powers, or something. Billie, she'd be about fourteen, now, and Christy, she's being held in the underworld by demons."

"Don't worry," Sandra told him, before he could go on. "We'll take care of it."

"It's just that they're dangerous," Henry protested, but he had the feeling that Sandra wasn't listening.

She probably wondered just how dangerous a couple of kids could possibly be, but he knew better. And if the Elders weren't going to do anything about the Jenkins sisters, he'd find some way to deal with them. He'd be damned if he was going to go through the hell of watching his family die, again.

"We will take care of this problem," Sandra repeated, as if she'd read his mind – and for all he knew, she had. "You have your own problems to take care of," she added.

"What does that mean?" Henry asked, but her answer was cut off by the sound of the phone ringing.

He turned to grab the cordless phone off the coffee table, and when he turned back around, Sandra had orbed away.

"Stubborn Elders," he muttered, hoping she was listening, and he thought he could hear ghostly laughter at his words. "Hello?" he said, a moment later, answering the phone.

"Hey, Mitchell, man," a familiar voice said, "you planning on coming in to work, today?"

The grin that had spread across his face at the sound of his best friend's voice fell when he looked at his watch and realized how late it had gotten.

"Oh, crap," he muttered, and on the other end of the line, Ryan was laughing at him.

"Get your ass in here before you get fired," he said, and then he hung up.

Muttering curses under his breath, Henry sprinted around the house, grabbing his coat, his shoes, and his service revolver from the safe in his bedroom. Then, barely remembering to lock his front door, he ran down the hallway, bypassing the eternally-slow elevator for the stairs.

Hitting the bottom landing at a run, he burst out of the stairwell and immediately slammed into someone, knocking them both to the floor.

"Sorry, sorry," he apologized, quickly, climbing to his feet and extending a hand to help the woman to her feet.

The woman took his outstretched hand, letting herself be pulled to her feet. Bending, she snagged the strap of her purse from where it had landed and slung the rainbow-colored bag over her shoulder. Then, she brushed her hair back away from her face, and Henry felt his heart stop.

"Where's the fire?" Paige asked, jokingly, but Henry couldn't answer her.

He wasn't even sure if he was breathing, right now, and words were definitely beyond his capabilities. It was all he could do not to grab Paige and hold on to her as hard as he could, which would have certainly freaked her out. So, he just settled for staring at her in shock, drinking in the sight of Paige standing before him, alive and well.

His silence must have unnerved her, because she was eyeing him, oddly. Then, lifting her hand in front of his face, she snapped her fingers, rapidly, startling him back to attention. She moved her hand slowly back and forth in front of his face, her eyes never leaving his.

"What are you doing?" he finally managed to force out, and she lowered her hand.

"Checking your reactions," she told him. "The way you were just staring, I thought you might have hit your head when we fell down."

"No, I – I'm fine," he said, still staring, and she shook her head in disbelief.

"You're sure?" she pressed. "You're not dizzy, you're not seeing double? Because I'd hate to walk out of here and have you pass out five seconds later."

"I'm fine," Henry reassured her, finally able to form coherent sentences, again.

"Okay, then," Paige said, even though she clearly wasn't convinced. "If you're sure you're not hurt, then I have to get going. I'm late for work."

She'd turned and started walking across the lobby, and Henry watched her go with a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. He knew it was foolish, especially since she seemed to live in the same apartment building as he did, but he couldn't help but feel that he'd never see her again if she walked out the doors.

"Henry," he blurted out, right before she could leave the lobby. "I'm Henry Mitchell."

"Paige Matthews," she said, turning and smiling at him. "Nice to meet you, Henry."

"I live in three-eighteen," he told her, because he couldn't think of any other way to stop her from leaving than to just keep talking.

"Three-oh-two," Paige replied. "Looks like we're practically neighbors."

"Looks like," he echoed, lamely, and then his heart started beating faster when she turned and had her hand on the door handle, ready to leave. "Do you want to go out for coffee, some time?" he said, quickly, and she turned to face him, again.

"I'm really sorry," she said, an apologetic tone in her voice. "I'm kind of seeing someone."

"Oh, right," Henry muttered, feeling his heart sink in his chest. "Of course you are."

Paige's smile grew uncertain, and he had the feeling that he was making her uncomfortable.

"Hey, it's no big deal," he said, quickly, trying to brush it off. "I mean, it's not every day I run into a beautiful woman, so I just figured I'd take that chance."

Paige laughed, and her whole face lit up as she grinned.

"It was nice meeting you, Henry," she said. "I'll see you around, yeah?"

Then, before he could say anything, she'd disappeared out the door. He had to force himself to walk normally across the lobby and not sprint over to the door to watch her drive off. Going over to his own car, he got in, but he didn't start the engine. Instead, he stared out of the windshield, the keys held limply in his hand.

He couldn't believe his luck, couldn't believe that she'd been so close all along. Just down the hallway, and he'd never noticed. At least not until today. He suddenly realized what Sandra had meant about a second chance, and he felt like he'd been living life with his eyes closed before now.

_'But, not anymore,'_ he thought, determinedly. _'Today really is the first day of the rest of my life. And I'm going to take advantage of every second.'_

His mind made up, Henry started the car and backed out of the parking lot, driving to the police station where he worked.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: **Thank you so much to everyone who's been reading and reviewing.

**Chapter Five**

Paige pulled into the parking lot of South Bay Social Services and eased her tiny car into the furthest spot she could find. She slipped into the building through the back entrance, passing Lilah on the way, but her friend had her nose buried in a magazine and only gave her a quick wave.

Making her way out to the front offices, Paige was about to go to her desk when a figure sitting outside the director's office caught her eye. She went over to the boy, who was entranced by a video game, and sat down beside him.

"Joining us, again?" she asked, and the boy sighed as he looked up at her.

"This is my third time in as many months," Tyler Martin grumbled, letting the game fall unnoticed into his lap. "I'm beginning to think that I'm never going to find a foster family."

"Don't say that," Paige said, quickly. "The perfect family is out there for you, buddy. And we're going to find them."

"Yeah, maybe," Tyler muttered, but he didn't sound convinced.

"So, what was it this time?" Paige asked.

"The usual," Tyler told her. "There was a fire in the living room and they think I started it. But I didn't," he added, in a rush, looking at her with pleading eyes. "You believe me, don't you, Paige?"

"I believe you," Paige assured him, watching some of the worry drop off his face at her words. "You're a good kid, Ty."

"Yeah, well, they don't think so," Tyler replied, bitterly. "I heard my caseworker talking to Mr. Cowan. He thinks that I'm a delinquent, and an arsonist, and that I should spend some time in Juvie to get straightened out."

"No way," Paige declared, decisively, and a small smile crept across Tyler's face at her words. "Look, you sit tight," she continued. "I'll talk to Mr. Cowan and set him straight."

"Thanks, Paige," Tyler said, and she smiled at him.

"Don't worry, Ty," she told him. "Everything is going to work out fine."

Going over to the closed office door, she gave a perfunctory knock before she entered, and the man behind the desk looked up at her.

"You are not sending that boy to Juvenile Hall," she said, bluntly, letting the door fall shut behind her.

"And good morning to you, too, Paige," Bob Cowan said, wryly, meeting her angry gaze head-on. "Have a seat, won't you?"

Paige sat in one of the chairs across from the older man, leaning forward to glare at him.

"Tyler's done nothing wrong," she said, insistently. "You can't send him to Juvenile Hall."

"Fires have started in the last five foster homes the kid has been in," Cowan told her, tapping the open case file in front of him for emphasis. "Am I supposed to believe that it's just coincidence?"

"He didn't do it," she said, and the older man sighed.

"Those fires didn't just start themselves," he told her. "But, you're right. We're not sending him to Juvenile Hall."

"Thank you," Paige said, sitting back in her chair.

"I spoke to the judge, this morning," Cowan continued. "I convinced him, due to Tyler's age, to let us take care of things before they drag the kid in for a hearing."

"And by take care of, you mean what?" Paige pressed, not giving up until she was satisfied by the answer.

"Someone from the parole office will be coming by in a little while to speak with Tyler," Cowan said. "I'm hoping that will scare him straight. I don't want to have to send a kid that young up before a judge if I don't have to."

"And Frank Lawson was okay with this?" Paige asked, incredulously.

She couldn't imagine the hard-as-nails social worker settling for the gentler of two options. His tough-love methods very rarely included just having someone come in and talk to his charges.

"Lawson requested that Tyler be reassigned," Cowan replied. "When we spoke this morning, he told me that he couldn't work with the kid if I was going to insist on going soft with him."

"The man's all heart," Paige grumbled. "So, who has Tyler's case, now?"

"Well," Cowan said, "since you seem so invested in the boy's future, you can have it."

"Me?" Paige protested, automatically. "Mr. Cowan, I'm not even a full social worker, yet. I'm still an assistant. I don't take cases."

"Consider this a test," Cowan told her. "How you do with this case will determine your future chances of a promotion."

"Oh, that's not intimidating at all," Paige muttered, seeing her future hanging on the line.

"Besides," Cowan went on, "I've seen you with the kid, and you've got a real rapport with him. If anyone can reach out to this kid, it's you, Paige."

"Thanks," Paige said, touched by the older man's faith in her.

"Just don't blow it," Cowan continued, ruining the moment. "And get out of my office and get back to work."

Paige snorted out a laugh at the man's attempt at gruffness, but she went back out to the main office and over to where Tyler was sitting.

"So, am I a goner?" Tyler asked, dread in his voice.

"You're safe," Paige told him, and his face lit up at the news. "And," she continued, wondering how he was going to take the next part, "it looks like you're stuck with me for a while. I'm your new caseworker."

A grin spread across Tyler's face as he jumped up, wrapping his arms around her in a tight hug.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" he said, happily, as he let go. "I knew you wouldn't let me down!"

"Come on," Paige said, ruffling his hair, affectionately. "We've got some work to do."

"So, if I'm not going to Juvie," Tyler asked, as he sat down in the chair Paige had dragged over to her desk, "then what's going to happen? Do I have a new placement, or am I going to a group home?"

"Well, for right now," Paige replied, "they're sending someone over from the parole office to have a talk with you."

"I have a parole officer?" Tyler asked, dismay plain in his voice. "But, I haven't done anything wrong."

"I know," Paige assured him. "This is just a precautionary thing. And I promise, I am completely on your side, here."

"Thanks," Tyler muttered, sounding slightly mollified.

Settling back in his chair, Tyler got lost in his game, again, while Paige opened his case file. She knew Tyler's story practically by heart, having known the boy since his first day with South Bay Social Services, nearly three years ago, but she wanted to go over Lawson's latest notes.

When she had finished going over the file, she tried talking to Lawson, himself, but it was a dead end. The older man had nothing more to say than he'd already put in his reports, and his opinion of Tyler was decidedly negative.

"Thanks for all the help," Paige said, sarcastically, after Lawson had finished giving her his opinion.

"I wouldn't trust that kid if I was you, Matthews," Lawson told her, bluntly. "I've been at this a long time, and I know a future felon when I see one."

Paige snorted, derisively, at the man's immediate dismissal of Tyler.

"I guess I just have a little more faith in him, than you," she muttered, turning and walking back to her desk.

Halfway there, her attention was caught by a familiar figure walking through the front doors. When he saw her, Henry Mitchell's face lit up with what she could only call a goofy grin, and she had to fight to keep a similar expression from creeping over her own face.

She'd only talked to him for a few seconds, earlier that morning, but she hadn't been able to get him out of her head. And she knew that if she hadn't been seeing Shane, she would have taken him up on his offer to go for coffee in a heartbeat.

"You, again," she said, teasingly, when he walked over to where she was standing. "You should be careful, I might think that you're following me."

"Just a coincidence," he told her. "Not one that I'm complaining about, mind you."

That had her laughing, and his smile got bigger in response.

"Actually," he went on, "I'm here to talk to a kid named Tyler Martin, and his social worker."

"You're looking at her," Paige told him, and he sighed.

"That's just my luck," Henry said, ruefully.

"Tyler's just a kid," Paige said, bluntly, meeting his eyes, squarely. "Keep that in mind, won't you?"

"Paige, I'm just going to talk to the kid," he said. "I'm not trying to be a bad guy."

"We're on a first name basis, now?" Paige asked, and a smile quirked across Henry's face.

"Well, I just figured," he replied, "seeing as how I practically ran you over, this morning."

"I guess I can buy that," Paige told him. "Just," she added, as she led him over to her desk, "be nice."

"I'm always nice," Henry muttered, taking the chair she pulled over for him. "Hey, kid," he added, looking at Tyler.

Tyler grunted out something that might have been a hello, and Henry sighed.

"Hey, buddy, can we talk?" he asked, and Tyler lifted his head to glare at the older man.

"I'm not your buddy," he muttered, and Paige broke in before either of them could say anything else.

"Officer Mitchell just wants to talk, Ty," she told him, and the boy relented with a quiet sigh.

"Fine," he replied. Turning his attention to Henry, he added, "I didn't start those fires."

"I believe you," Henry said, and both Paige and Tyler looked at him in shock.

"You do?" he asked, wonderingly, and Henry nodded.

"But," he continued, "I do want to talk about what's been happening when these fires start."

"What do you mean?" Tyler asked, nervously, and Paige reached over, squeezing his hand, comfortingly.

"Well," Henry said, carefully, "what were you doing right before the last fire started?"

"I was in the living room," Tyler said. "Doing my homework."

"And then what happened?" Paige prompted, when Tyler fell silent.

"Mr. Garner came in," Tyler said, with obvious reluctance. "He was yelling about how the house was a mess."

"Was it?" Henry asked, and Tyler jerked his shoulder in a shrug.

"My backpack was on the couch," he said, "and my math book was on the table, but it didn't look too bad to me."

"But, your foster father thought that it was messy?" Paige asked, and Tyler nodded.

"He was always getting upset about the house being messy," he replied. "So, he started yelling, and then the couch was on fire."

"Just like that?" Henry prompted, as Paige wondered what he was getting at. "He was just yelling at you?"

"He kind of grabbed my arm," Tyler admitted, softly, and Paige could almost feel the blood draining from her face at his words.

"Let me see," she said, quietly, but Tyler pressed his lips together, tightly, shaking his head.

"It's no big deal," he whispered.

"Tyler," she said, insistently, "let me see it."

Moving slowly, Tyler peeled his jacket off and rolled up the sleeve of his tee-shirt. Paige gasped in horror at the dark, distinct handprint that covered his shoulder.

"Tyler," she asked, slowly, fearing she already knew what the answer would be, "did your foster father ever hit you?"

Tears sprang to the boy's eyes, and that was all the answer she needed. Reaching out, she pulled Tyler into a hug, feeling the boy shaking against her.

"Why didn't you tell anyone?" she whispered, feeling tears come to her own eyes. "Ty, why did you try to hide this?"

"I did tell someone," Tyler choked out, pulling away to look at her. "I told my teacher, and I told Mr. Lawson, but they wouldn't listen."

Paige caught Henry's eyes at that, seeing the same fury in his expression that had to be reflected on her face.

"Everyone said that I was lying," Tyler went on, and Paige felt her heart clench at the despondent look in his eyes. "They said that I was just trying to get myself out of trouble – but I'm not a liar!" he cried, and that was when the trash can exploded.

Henry swore, jerking back in shock as the trash can a few feet away from him burst into flames. Paige jumped to her feet, pulling Tyler out of his chair and away from the fire.

"Fire extinguisher," Henry demanded, and Paige pointed, wordlessly, across the room where the bright red tool was hanging from the wall.

Henry sprinted across the room and was back in a few seconds, fire extinguisher in his hands. He pulled the pin, pointed the nozzle, and a cloud of white foam shot out of the extinguisher to smother the flames.

"It's okay," Paige called out to her coworkers, who were staring at the trash can in shock. "Just a bit of an accident. Nothing to worry about."

Tyler, still in her arms, was shaking like a leaf, his eyes wide in shock as he stared at the remains of the fire.

"I – I don't know how that happened," he stammered, clearly terrified, and Paige hugged him, tightly.

"It's okay," she told him, and he looked at her in surprise. "It's going to be okay," she repeated, firmly. "I promise."

Tyler still didn't look convinced, but he finally nodded, reluctantly, giving her a tremulous smile.

"Okay," he whispered, his voice barely audible.

"I need you to stay here," Paige told him, pushing him gently back into his chair. "Officer Mitchell and I have something we need to discuss, but we'll be right back."

Getting another, reluctant nod from Tyler, she grabbed Henry's arm and practically dragged the man into an empty office down the hall. She could feel herself shaking as she shut the door behind her, and Henry didn't look too steady, either, when she got a good look at him.

"He just lit the trash can on fire with his mind," she said, shakily, barely able to believe the words that were coming out of her mouth.

When Henry nodded, wordlessly, it confirmed to her that she hadn't gone crazy and hallucinated the entire thing. That was both reassuring and terrifying.

"Started the fire with his mind," she said, emphatically, because, really, it was something that just had to be repeated.

"You sound surprised," Henry said, and Paige snorted out an incredulous laugh.

"Oh, no," she said, sarcastically. "My charges always turn out to be Carrie."

She could feel herself shaking, and she knew that she was close to losing it. In the normal, rational world, people did not start fires with their mind. They did not make things explode just by looking at them.

But, she was very quickly realizing that the world was neither normal nor rational. There was a little boy sitting at her desk who had powers that were supposed to only exist in science fiction movies. And he was counting on her to be the strong one.

Leaning back against the closed door with a groan, Paige closed her eyes and rubbed her temples to try and stave off the headache she could feel forming there. When she felt a hand rubbing her shoulder, she opened her eyes to see Henry standing in front of her, a concerned look on his face.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"I have no idea," Paige admitted, honestly. "This sort of thing isn't supposed to be happening."

"But, it is," Henry pointed out, and Paige sighed.

"I know," she said, quietly. After a moment, she added, "Don't worry, I'll be okay. I just need to reevaluate my view of the world."

"I've been there," Henry said, a grin quirking at the corners of his mouth.

"Is that why you're not freaking out?" Paige asked, wryly.

"This isn't the weirdest thing I've seen," Henry told her, piquing her interest. "But, it does come pretty close."

"You'll have to tell me about it, some time," Paige said.

"Maybe I will," Henry said, and Paige realized that he was flirting with her. And she just as quickly realized that she didn't mind in the least. "So, what are you going to do about Tyler?" Henry continued.

"Well, I can't let him go into a group home," Paige said, immediately. "Not with his … powers. It's too risky for him and for everyone else."

"Another foster family?" Henry asked, but Paige shook her head.

"Even if we could arrange a placement on such short notice," she said, "it'd be the same situation all over again. Tyler's volatile, and we can't leave him with anyone who doesn't know what he's capable of."

"So, what then?" Henry asked, and there was really only one option that Paige could see.

"He'll come home with me for the weekend," she told him, and Henry raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Oh, sure, you'll just take the kid home with you," he said, and Paige laughed.

"I'm a registered foster parent," she explained. "Most of us who work here are, for just this kind of situation."

"You mean fire-starting kids are a common problem?" he asked, teasingly, and Paige rolled her eyes at him.

"Sometimes, we can't get kids placed, and they can't go into group homes for one reason or another," she elaborated. "So, we take them in as a temporary measure, until a more permanent solution can be found."

"That's actually a really reasonable idea," Henry said.

"Thanks, we think so," Paige replied, and he grinned at her sarcasm. "I don't suppose you know where I can stock up on fire extinguishers, do you?" she added. "I have the feeling I might need them."

"I can pick some up for you," Henry volunteered, much to her surprise. "And now I'm going to go talk to the kid. I want to make sure he knows that he's not in trouble."

Paige spent another minute in the office, trying to get her nerves under control, and then she went to Cowan's office. She cleared her plan with her boss surprisingly quickly, although she left out the part about the fire in the trash can. There were just some things that no one else needed to know.

When she went out into the main office, she saw Henry sitting at her desk, talking to Tyler. The boy actually had a smile on his face, and the fact that Henry had been able to put it there endeared him to her just that much more.

"Henry says that I get to go home with you," Tyler said, excitedly, as she came up, and she noted that he was already on a first name basis with the older man.

"Absolutely," she replied, as Tyler practically beamed with happiness. "But, you still have to do your homework."

"I can live with that," the boy replied, pretending to think about it for a few seconds.

"We'll leave in a little while," Paige told him. "I still have to get some work done, even if I do get to take off early."

"I should probably get going, too," Henry said, standing up and offering her the chair he'd vacated. "My boss is mad enough at me as it is."

Paige watched him leave, and then she turned her attention back to Tyler. The boy had his attention focused on his video game, again, and he looked so innocent. He certainly didn't look like he was hiding such destructive powers as he'd shown earlier.

_'I hope I know what the hell I'm doing,'_ Paige thought, wryly.

Then, Tyler looked up at her, briefly, and smiled, and she knew that she was doing absolutely the right thing.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: **Thanks so much to everyone who's been reading and reviewing.

**Chapter Six**

Sitting in the lobby of the police station, Piper drummed her fingers impatiently on her knee. She'd been sitting there, waiting to talk to Darryl, for nearly an hour, and she wondered what was taking him so long.

Her words to Prue yesterday, aside, she hadn't wanted to come down to the station and file a missing person's report on Phoebe. Doing so felt too much like giving up, like they were admitting that she was really gone and that they couldn't do anything to find her.

But, she and Prue had exhausted all magical means of trying to track Phoebe down, with no success. And, as unpleasant as it was, they needed to do this. There was a million-to-one chance that it might actually work, but they needed every extra advantage that they could get.

It was nearly another fifteen minutes before Darryl came and got her, and Piper almost jumped down his throat before she took in the dark circles under his eyes and the exhausted look on his face.

"You look like hell," she said, bluntly.

"I feel like it," Darryl replied, leading her back to his desk. "We've all been putting in a lot of overtime, lately, and I don't think I've been home in two days." Pulling a chair over for her, he added, "Any news on Phoebe?"

"That's why I'm here," Piper told him. "I want to file a missing persons report."

"Do you think it'll help?" Darryl asked, taking a notepad out of one of the drawers and digging for a pen.

"At this point," Piper said, quietly, "we think anything might help."

"All right," Darryl told her, "let's start with the basics. Height, weight, date of birth, that sort of thing."

They'd been at it for about twenty minutes, and Piper was amazed at everything that went into reporting a person missing. Darryl had her going over every single detail, even things that she thought wouldn't have been important. What time it had been, where'd they'd last seen Phoebe, where she and Prue had been before they discovered her missing.

Everything was heavily edited, of course, but even with the magic part left out, there was a clear picture forming of the time when Phoebe had disappeared.

"Is it possible," Darryl asked, suddenly, "that Phoebe got up and just walked out of the house?"

"No way," Piper said, immediately. "She wouldn't just leave us like that. Not in the middle of a vanquish. Not with an Innocent on the line."

"Sorry, but I have to ask," Darryl said, apologetically. "Because, I can tell you right now, anyone who looks at this file is going to jump immediately to that conclusion."

"What do you mean?" Piper asked.

"You have a young woman disappearing from an empty house, with no witnesses," Darryl explained. "The house is intact, there's no sign of a break-in or a struggle, she's just gone."

"We're not going to find much help, you mean," Piper said, realizing what Darryl was getting at. "If they think Phoebe just walked out on us, they're not going to be as concerned as if there was actually evidence that she'd been taken."

"I know it sounds callous," Darryl told her, "and it's not fair, but that's just the way it is. The Missing Persons Department has limited resources, and they've got to devote their time and energy to the most urgent cases."

"So, all of this is going to be for nothing?" Piper asked, but Darryl shook his head, immediately.

"I'm not saying that," he said. "I just don't want you and Prue to get your hopes up over anything."

"Well, this was a long shot in the first place," Piper told him. "I mean, if Prue and I can't find Phoebe-"

"Do you think that her disappearance was demonic?" Darryl asked, quietly, lowering his voice so that no one could hear him.

"It's been almost two days without any sign of Phoebe," Piper told him. "Or Leo, or Cole. And, right now, I don't know what to think, any more."

She heaved a frustrated sigh, and Darryl reached out and squeezed her shoulder in comfort.

"How are you two holding up?" he asked, but Piper shrugged.

"I don't know," she admitted. "I think if this goes on any longer, then one of us is going to snap."

"Well, hopefully, this will do something to help," Darryl said, as he printed off the finished report. "I'll get this to Missing Persons, and I'll do what I can to get them to make it a priority."

"Thanks," Piper said, touched by his obvious concern. "Hey, Darryl, can I ask another favor?"

"Anything," Darryl said, immediately.

"Do the police get involved in adoption cases?" Piper asked.

"Well, Child Protective Services will get involved with cases where the kids are in danger, or being abused," Darryl told her. "But, usually adoption is something that we leave up to Social Services, unless there's a pressing need we have to address."

"What about when a baby is left somewhere?" Piper asked.

"You mean, like abandonment?" Darryl asked. "Because, CPS will definitely get involved when children are abandoned."

"Well, she wasn't really abandoned," Piper hedged. "I mean, at least not in the traditional sense. When you know the whole story, it was really for her own good-"

"Piper, you're rambling," Darryl interrupted, cutting her off. "Is there a point to all of this?"

"Would there be any way of tracking down a baby who was left at a church right after she was born?" Piper asked.

"There would be a CPS record of the incident," Darryl said, "because the church would have had to report the incident to both the police and Social Services. Do you have a name for this baby?"

"Paige," Piper answered.

"Does this Paige have a last name?" Darryl pressed.

"I only know her first name," Piper told him.

"Well, which church was she left at?" Darryl asked.

"I don't know that, either," Piper admitted, sheepishly.

"Do you have anything on this girl other than a first name?" Darryl asked, with a sigh.

"She'd be about twenty-four or twenty-five, right now," Piper said. "And, no," she said, a second later, anticipating his next question, "I don't know her date of birth."

"Piper, just who is this girl?" Darryl asked. "Is she an Innocent, or something?"

"She's our sister," Piper told him, and Darryl's eyes widened in surprise.

"Are you sure about this?" he asked.

"We heard it from a pretty impeccable source," Piper replied. "And, we think she could be in danger, so we have to find her, now."

"Do you have anything other than her name?" Darryl asked, again. "Where was this church? Who was she left with?"

"I don't know!" Piper said, frustrated. "All Mom said was that the church was local."

"Okay," Darryl said, sighing. "We can start with that, start checking with the churches in the area around your house."

"Thanks," Piper said, quietly. "I just – I wish I had more to go on. I wish I didn't feel so helpless."

"If there's one thing I've seen over the years," Darryl told her, "it's that you ladies are very rarely helpless for long. If anyone can do this, it's you and Prue."

He led Piper out of his office and out into the main lobby, Phoebe's report and his notes on Paige still held in his hand.

"I'll talk to Missing Persons and CPS, and get back to you as soon as I can," he told her, but Piper's attention was caught by someone on the far side of the room.

"Darryl," she asked, gesturing in the direction she was staring, "who is that?"

"Who?" Darryl asked, and then he saw who she was looking at. "Oh, that's Mitchell, he's one of our parole officers. Why, do you know him?"

"No, but I think he can give me some answers about Paige," Piper said, absently.

She started to push her way through the crowded police station, trying to keep the man in her sights. But, she lost track of him for a just a second, and when the crowd in front of her cleared, he was gone. Piper swore in frustration, seeing her chance at finding Paige slipping out of her hands.

"Piper, what are you talking about?" Darryl demanded, coming up beside her. "Why do you think that Mitchell knows Paige, if you don't even know this girl?"

"It's a long story," Piper told him, "and I can't really get into it, right now. But, I know he can help us find her. If I can find him, again."

"He works here," Darryl reminded her. "The next time I see him, I'll tell him that you want to talk."

"Oh," Piper said, surprised, and Darryl grinned.

"Sometimes, it really is that simple," he told her.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"I've had enough of Hell," Phoebe declared. "What do you say we go home, now?"

"Sure," Cole said, absently, his eyes glued to the corridor outside of their little hidey-hole. "I'll get right on that."

The cavern they'd holed up in was well hidden, and thanks to the shielding spell Phoebe had worked, the only spell she'd been able to work down in the underworld, they'd been able to avoid detection for the last two days.

It was even in an area that dampened demonic powers, meaning that no one could shimmer in and surprise them. Of course, it also meant that Cole couldn't shimmer out, but no plan was perfect.

There'd been some close calls, but so far, they'd managed to stay one step ahead of the bounty hunters the Source had placed on their tail. Unfortunately, Leo hadn't been so lucky. Demons had captured the Whitelighter two days ago, before he could orb back up to Piper and Prue, and they'd been trying to find him ever since.

And, now, Cole finally thought he had a lead.

He'd heard whispers of an ascension ritual, one that was supposed to involve the sacrifice of a witch. He and Phoebe thought that they'd prevented it, by staying out of the reach of the demons, but they hadn't counted on the demons finding Leo – and deciding that the Whitelighter would make an acceptable substitute.

"Stay here," Cole said, peeking out of the cavern, again, to make sure that the corridor was empty.

"When Hell freezes over," Phoebe muttered, earning a dark look from Cole.

But, when she joined him in sneaking out into the corridor, he didn't protest. They stuck to the shadows, finally finding the coronation chamber where the demons were supposed to be gathering. There was a pedestal in the chamber, with a book resting open on top, and a stone altar in the center of the chamber. Even from the door, Phoebe could see the dark stains that covered the surface.

"What, exactly, are they doing, here?" she hissed to Cole, as they hid around the corner, in a spot where they would still have a good vantage point.

"By sacrificing a being of good on the Dark Altar," Cole replied, softly, "the Source will absorb his powers and become stronger as a result."

"But," Phoebe asked, confused, "how is this different from any other time a demon kills a witch or a Whitelighter?"

"Demons have practiced ritualistic sacrifice for centuries," Cole explained. "There's power to be gained from the pain and suffering of a victim, and it breaks down their defenses, makes them vulnerable. And then when they finally make the sacrifice, the victim's energy is absorbed by the demon."

"So, that's why they haven't killed Leo," Phoebe said, "even though they've had him for two days."

"Exactly," Cole replied. "They're actually rushing the ceremony, since they know that we're still on the loose."

"Couldn't that work in our favor?" Phoebe asked. "I mean, if they're rushing, then they're likely to make mistakes, right?"

"Maybe," Cole said, guardedly. "Or, it could set them more on edge, making it harder to rescue Leo."

"Is there going to be anything left of Leo to save?" Phoebe asked, worriedly, not sure if she really wanted to know the answer.

Suddenly, they could hear footsteps, and they drew back into the shadows as a processional of demons turned a corner and started toward the coronation chamber. The two demons at the front of the processional were dragging a familiar figure between them, and Phoebe had to stifle a gasp at the state Leo was in.

His face was a bloody mess, with one eye swollen completely shut. The other was open, but Phoebe could tell that he wasn't really focusing on anything. What remained of his clothing was hanging from him in tattered rags, and his skin was marked with bloody furrows that traced the length of his body. He was conscious, but he wasn't fighting, and Phoebe wondered if they were too late.

Cole gestured to her with a quick jerk of his hand, and Phoebe moved silently behind him as they came up behind the processional. Moving quickly, they managed to subdue and drag off two of the rearmost demons. Cole dispatched the demons, quickly, with one of their own daggers, and then he and Phoebe donned their robes and flipped the hoods up to conceal their faces.

After hiding the bodies, they hurried to join the end of the processional, slipping into the coronation chamber just as Leo was being tied down to the altar. His head lolled to the side, and Phoebe winced when she saw the gash on his temple and the dark blood matted in his hair.

"How are we supposed to rescue Leo when we're surrounded by a dozen demons?" she hissed to Cole, keeping her voice low so that no one else could hear her.

"Technically, it's only ten demons," came the quiet reply. "Eleven, once the Source joins the ceremony. The two we took out would have made it thirteen, which is what they need for the ceremony to work, properly."

"Oh, 'cause that makes it so much better," she muttered. "You still haven't answered my question."

"Just follow my lead," Cole replied.

They joined the rest of the demons standing in a semicircle around the altar, and a few seconds later, another hooded demon entered the chamber. As all the demons around them started bowing, Phoebe realized that it must be the Source.

She and Cole bowed as well, but Phoebe kept a careful eye on the Source's movements. The rest of her attention was on Cole, so that she could be ready for when he made his move.

The Source stopped at the head of the altar, reaching out with scarred hands to hold Leo's head in a punishing grip. Under the demon's touch, Leo moaned in pain, thrashing weakly on the altar, but the ropes holding him down hampered his movements.

Around them, the demons started chanting, one of the demons leading the ceremony out of the book on the pedestal, and Phoebe mumbled along so that no one would get suspicious. Beside her, Cole was muttering words of his own, and Phoebe thought it was the demons' chant, but after a second, she realized that he was mispronouncing the words and throwing the cadence off.

She caught a slight movement out of the corner of her eye, and when she looked closer, she saw the handle of the stolen dagger nestled in Cole's palm, the blade still concealed by the sleeve of his robes. Then he moved, and if she hadn't been watching for it, she would have missed his hand flicking out, sending the dagger flying across the length of the altar faster than the eye could follow.

The demon he'd struck went down, the dagger buried to the hilt in his chest, and at the same time, Cole shoved the demon beside him, making him stumble. To the casual eye, it would have looked like he'd been knocked off balance, and suddenly Phoebe had an idea of what Cole's plan was. So she was ready when he made his next move.

"Traitor!" Cole bellowed, and Phoebe wasn't surprised to hear Balthazar's deep voice coming out from under the hood. "You're trying to sabotage the ascension!"

Predictably, his accusation sent the demons into a furious frenzy as they turned on the demon that had been set up. Phoebe would have felt sorry for him, as everyone converged on the demon, but after what had been done to Leo, the demon deserved whatever he was about to get.

With the rest of the demons suitably distracted, Phoebe used her own, stolen dagger to slice through the ropes holding Leo to the altar. It was painfully clear that he wasn't capable of leaving the chamber under his own power, but Cole solved the problem by simply picking Leo and slinging the Whitelighter over his shoulder in a fireman's carry.

Then, they bolted for the exit.

Their escape went miraculously unnoticed, but they didn't stop to congratulate themselves on a job well done. They sprinted through the corridors and back to their cavern, Phoebe covering Cole's back as he protected Leo. Only when they were safely inside the small space, and the shield spell back up in place, did she breathe a sigh of relief.

"You know that was way too easy," she told Cole, helping him carefully lower Leo to the floor.

The Whitelighter had slipped completely into unconsciousness during their flight from the chamber, and he didn't stir even when Phoebe was checking the extent of his injuries.

"We have to get him out of here," she said, worriedly. "He's not going to heal down here, and he won't make it much longer."

Cole, who was sitting slumped against the wall of the cavern, took his attention off the doorway long enough to look over at her.

"That's going to be easier said than done," he told her. "Because, now the Source is going to have the entire underworld out hunting for us."


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: **Thanks so much to everyone who's been reading and reviewing. I love hearing what you all think.

**Chapter Seven**

"Shane, I'm sorry." Paige winced at the indignant tone in her boyfriend's voice as he kept ranting at her over the phone. "I know this is the third time this week that I've canceled on you, but I can't help it. Work just keeps following me home."

From his position on the couch, Tyler started laughing when he heard her, and Paige had to smile when she realized what she'd said.

"I'm sorry, Shane," she repeated. "Maybe we can make plans in a month or so, when things are less hectic."

"Maybe we should just call the whole thing off," came the angry response, and then she was listening to the dial tone.

"Well, that went well," she muttered, hanging the phone back up in its cradle.

"I'm screwing things up for you, aren't I?" Tyler asked, morosely, as she sat down beside him on the couch.

"Never," Paige told him, instantly.

When he still looked unconvinced, she leaned over and pulled him to her in a hug. Tyler was stiff for a moment, and then he slumped against her as she wrapped her arms around him.

"Don't you ever think that," she went on. "I'd take you over a thousand Shanes any day."

That brought a small smile to his face, and she ruffled his hair as she straightened back up.

"What do you want for dinner?" she asked, and Tyler looked at her in alarm.

"You're not cooking, are you?" he asked, in mock horror, and then he ducked, laughing, as Paige swatted him on the back of his head.

"No, I'm not cooking," she told him, and he heaved an exaggerated sigh of relief.

"Good," he said. "Because that spaghetti last night was pretty bad."

When she'd brought Tyler home, last night, she'd tried to cook dinner for the two of them. Tried, being the operative word. She'd managed, somehow, to knock a pot of boiling water off the stove, soaking the entire kitchen. Then, a fire had started on one of the burners and, in putting it out, she'd managed to set two potholders ablaze.

Only through sheer luck had she avoided setting the smoke alarms off, but she'd taken the hint and ordered pizza. And Tyler had practically begged her to never try her hand at cooking, ever again.

"How's pizza sound, again?" she asked, and Tyler shrugged.

"Sounds good," he replied, and then his head popped up and he jumped off the couch at the sound of a knock at the door. "I'll get it!"

He threw open the front door, and Paige found herself smiling when she saw Henry standing out in the hallway. He had takeout bags in his hands that he brandished with a flourish.

"It's like you read my mind," Paige told him, as he entered the apartment.

"Well, after last night," he said, teasingly, "it was either bring over food or watch you starve."

Paige glared at him, but he just grinned at her, completely unabashed. Tyler had called Henry during last night's cooking fiasco, and he'd arrived right as she was putting out the kitchen fire with one of the fire extinguishers he'd bought for them. So far, he hadn't let her live down the event even for a moment.

"So, what are we having for dinner?" Paige asked, taking one of the bags from him and setting it down on the counter.

"Burgers from this little diner I found," Henry told her. "And I got a lot, so I hope you and the kid are hungry."

"Are you kidding?" Paige asked him. "Tyler's a bottomless pit," she added, pitching her voice so that the boy could hear her.

"I'm a growing boy," Tyler retorted, as he joined them in the kitchen.

Rooting through the bags, he took his dinner and retreated back into the living room, sitting on the couch where he could see the television. Watching him go, Paige raised an eyebrow at Henry.

"Did he leave us anything?" she asked, wryly.

"Here," Henry told her, digging into a bag and passing her a paper-wrapped hamburger. "You want any fries?"

"No, I'm good," Paige replied, moving a pile of papers off the counter and hopping up to sit, angling so that she could see Tyler in the living room. "Thanks for bringing us dinner, Henry."

"No problem," he said. Leaning against the counter beside her, he added, "So, how are you two doing?"

"Well," Paige told him, "in two days, the only fire was the one I caused, yesterday, so I think we're okay."

"But, how are you holding up?" he pressed, and Paige knew that he wasn't just repeating himself.

"It's still a little strange," she replied, "knowing that my foster son can light things on fire with his mind. And, Tyler's understandably freaked about the whole thing, too. I've been doing a lot of reading," she added, gesturing to the table that was covered with various books about the paranormal. "But, it would be nice to just know the right answers, without having to make wild guesses about what's happening."

"At least you've kept the apartment from going up in flames," Henry pointed out.

"Tyler and I have been talking about it," she told him. "We've been going over things, and we think we figured out a pattern to the fires in his foster homes."

"Oh, yeah?" Henry asked, curiously.

"Whenever he gets angry," Paige explained, "that's when he loses control over his powers. The angrier he gets, the bigger the explosion."

"What happened with Garner," Henry said, cautiously, "are these previous incidents more of the same?"

"Not to that degree," Paige told him, and relief crossed his face. "But," she went on, "he hasn't had the easiest life. After the first fires started, people started dismissing him as a troublemaker. He was alone, and scared, and he didn't know what was happening. No one was willing to give him a chance."

"You did," Henry pointed out.

"I've known Tyler for a few years, now," Paige told him. "He's a good kid. And, what happened before, it's not his fault. He didn't even know he was doing it."

"You've got no argument, here," Henry replied. "Frankly, I think you're pretty damn amazing, Paige." She shot him an incredulous look, and he laughed. "I mean it," he went on. "Not many people would do what you're doing."

"I can't do anything else," Paige said, quietly, smiling when Tyler laughed at something on the television. "I can't turn my back on him, Henry."

They were silent for a few minutes, eating dinner while they watched Tyler. The grin on the boy's face spread from ear to ear, and he looked happier and more relaxed than Paige had seen him in quite some time.

"How is he doing?" Henry asked, breaking the silence. "With the fire-starting, I mean?"

"Well, since we figured out what triggers his powers," Paige said, "we started doing a little practicing, last night."

"Is that what those little black marks all over the linoleum are?" Henry asked, looking down at the floor. "I just figured that it was another cooking experiment gone bad."

Paige reached over and smacked him on the arm, getting a wince in response.

"You hit like a girl," he muttered, even as he surreptitiously rubbed his sore shoulder.

"Those are scorch marks," Paige said, ignoring his jab. "Tyler practiced setting things on fire, and I got a lot of practice putting them out. It's probably not completely under control," she added, "not after a day, but at least we've got a chance to avoid starting any big fires."

Looking at the scorch marks, again, she added, ruefully, "Of course, this does mean that I've probably lost my security deposit."

"You know," Henry told her, "there are some people that we could take Tyler to. People who could help him control his powers."

"I don't want Tyler getting hurt," Paige protested, automatically. "How do you know that we can trust these people?"

"I know these women," Henry told her. "Sort of, anyway. And, they're good. They're not going to hurt Tyler, I promise."

"If you're sure," Paige said, hesitantly, and Henry nodded, decisively. "Saturday's my day off," she went on, "and Tyler doesn't have school. Does that work for you?"

"Saturday it is, then," Henry agreed.

"I remember you mentioning something about telling me how you knew about all of this," Paige reminded him, a few minutes later. "Because, it's not really something you can talk about openly, I'd imagine."

"I had a friend who taught me about magic," Henry admitted, after several long moments. "I was a little freaked out at first; I didn't know what to think. She – she brought me into her world and showed me how amazing it could be."

There was a sad smile on his face as he reminisced, and Paige had the feeling that it was far from being the whole story.

"This friend," she asked, gently, not wanting to press him too hard if the memories were painful.

"It's kind of complicated," Henry told her. "I thought, for a while, that I'd lost her, completely, but now I'm not so sure."

He trailed off, and Paige let the matter drop, not willing to press him about something that was obviously so painful. They finished eating in silence and then they went out into the living room and joined Tyler on the couch, on either side of the boy. They watched television for a while, sitting in companionable silence.

At one point, Paige stretched her arms out over her head, trying to ease an ache in her shoulders. Draping her arm across the back of the couch to let her muscles stretch out, she looked over in surprise when she bumped something with her hand. Henry had his own arm stretched out over the back of the couch as well, and he laughed when he realized what they'd done.

"Completely coincidental, I swear," he insisted, as Paige giggled. "I haven't deliberately made a move this lame since I was in high school."

"But, you have used it," Paige pointed out, still chuckling. "Did the girls you dated actually fall for it?"

"Of course," Henry said, quickly. "The girls found me irresistible, back then."

"Not this girl," Paige teased him.

But, she left her hand where it was, with Henry's fingers brushing lightly against the back of her hand. And when he twined their fingers together, she made no move to pull away.

She felt comfortable with Henry, in a way that she hadn't felt for a long time. It felt like she'd known him for years, like she could share anything with him. When she was with Henry, things just felt right. And that was both exhilarating and terrifying.

_'Mostly exhilarating,'_ she thought, with a small smile, glancing over at Henry who was staring, rapt, at the television screen.

Finally, it was getting late, and Henry glanced at his watch in regret.

"I've got to go," he told her, and Paige nodded, reluctantly, surprised at how much she wanted him to stay.

"Thanks, again, for dinner," she said, instead, "I'd walk you to the door, but-"

She gestured ruefully to Tyler, who was slumped against her side after falling asleep nearly an hour ago. The boy was snoring, softly, and Paige didn't want to move for fear of waking him up.

"I can let myself out," Henry assured her.

He stood, moving around the back of the couch, and then to her surprise, he bent down and brushed a soft kiss over her cheek.

"What was that?" Paige asked, surprised, and Henry grinned.

"Me, taking a chance that you're not going to risk waking Tyler up by slapping me," he said, cheekily.

"Well, then I guess I owe you one," Paige told him.

"A slap, or a kiss?" Henry asked, cautiously, but Paige just smirked at him.

"I guess you'll just have to wait and see," she said, teasingly.

Henry left, leaving her and Tyler alone in the apartment. The sound of the television filled the small space, suddenly too loud, and Paige leaned forward to grab the remote off the table. But, it was just out of reach, and she sighed in frustration. She stretched forward to grab it, again, but she just couldn't reach it from where she was sitting, and she didn't want to move in case she woke Tyler up.

_'Come on,'_ she thought, exasperated, as she reached out a third time.

Then, from out of nowhere, a puff of wind swept across the coffee table, knocking a stack of magazines to the floor. At the same time, the remote rocked back and forth on the table, and then to her amazement, it jumped into her hand. She stared in shock at the remote for several long seconds, and then grabbed the remote with her other hand, staring at the palm of her free hand, where the wind had come from. Numbly, she clicked the power button on the remote, plunging the apartment into silence.

"I – I'm losing my mind," she said, softly, overcome with the urge to run to the phone and call Henry, begging him to come back.

Tyler snorted, softly, in his sleep, and Paige looked down at the boy, shifting on the couch to a more comfortable position. Tyler having strange powers was one thing, and she had just started to come to terms with that, but she wasn't sure if she could deal with the same thing happening to her.

"I'm hallucinating," she said, slowly, testing the words out as she said them. "It's late, and I'm tired, and I imagined the entire thing."

But, there was no mistaking the evidence, the remote in her hand, and the magazines on the floor. And she wasn't really fooling herself, anyway.

She didn't know how long she sat there on the couch, staring at the dark television screen lost in thought. Her mind was whirling, thoughts swirling frantically like a maelstrom, and she couldn't settle on anything for more than a few seconds.

Finally, when she was too tired to try and keep her eyes open, she eased her way off of the couch, settling a pillow under Tyler's head as she stood up. She brushed a kiss across the boy's forehead with a soft murmur and pulled the blanket off the back of the couch to cover him, and then she made her way into her bedroom, one hand along the wall to keep her upright.

She fell into bed, still dressed in the clothes she'd been wearing all day. Closing her eyes, she tried to fall asleep, but she finally gave up and stared at the ceiling for the rest of the night. Finally, around dawn, she fell into a fitful sleep, her dreams haunted by fire and blood.


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note: **Thanks to everyone who's been reading and reviewing.

**Chapter Eight**

After a sleepless night that was over far too quickly, Paige woke up to the sound of her alarm clock squawking at her. She quickly slapped it off, before it could wake Tyler up, but from the sound of the snoring from the direction of the couch, he hadn't even been disturbed.

The light streaming in through the window was bright enough to give her a headache, and she was cursing herself for forgetting to close the blinds before she crashed, last night. She was still grumbling about the early morning, and the too-bright California sunshine, when she stepped in the shower, but then she groaned in pleasure when the hot water cascaded over her shoulders.

"God bless modern plumbing," she mumbled, pouring a generous blob of shampoo into her hands and working it into her hair.

She ducked back under the spray to rinse the suds out, and then she shrieked when the hot water suddenly turned cold. She jerked in shock at the sensation, feet slipping on the wet tile, but she caught herself before she could fall. Shampoo had gotten into her eyes while she was flailing around, making them sting, but before she could duck back under the water, a cold spray washed over her.

She instinctively tipped her head up, letting the water rinse her eyes out. When the soap was out of her eyes, she stepped away from the water and opened her eyes, staring in shock at the clouds that were hovering over the shower, raining cold water down into the stall.

_'It's raining,'_ she thought, numbly, _'inside the apartment.'_

The clouds, oblivious to her shock, were moving even closer, and she shuddered when she was doused with cold water, again. Keeping a wary eye on the clouds, just in case the light rain decided to turn into a full-blown storm or something, she reached behind her and blindly shut the shower off, leaving only the cold water to swirl down the drain.

Paige reached for the shower door, intending to step out and grab her towel, but she changed her mind when the cloud followed her, and she had a sudden image of the entire bathroom getting soaked. She tried to sneak past the cloud, trapping the rain in the shower, but it kept hovering almost directly over her head, keeping her cold and wet.

"This is ridiculous," she muttered, out loud, her voice filling the small space. "I'm trapped in my bathroom by a cloud."

The words, as unbelievable as they were, didn't change the reality of the situation, and Paige was starting to shiver from cold. Even the residual warmth from her shower couldn't combat the cold water raining down on her.

"Go away," she muttered, irritably, at the cloud.

She felt foolish talking to a cloud, but she was freezing and desperate, and at this point, she was willing to try anything. But, if anything, the rain only started coming down harder, and she scowled as the water got even colder.

"Why is this happening to me?" she groaned. _'Because I'm a witch,'_ she thought, a second later, but she had no idea where the thought had come from.

What she did know was that it was the truth. She didn't know where the term had come from; it certainly hadn't been in any of the books that she pored over while looking for answers on Tyler's powers. But, then, she hadn't exactly been looking back to medieval times for answers.

"I'm a witch," she said, out loud, testing the words, and they just felt right. "But, how does that help me, now?"

She knew she was getting worked up, and, as if in answer, the rain was only getting worse, and that gave her an idea.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down, and to her amazement, the rain didn't seem to be coming down as hard as before. Not daring to open her eyes, in case she jinxed everything, she continued breathing slowly, pushing away the stress and worry that had been gnawing at her for the past couple of days.

When the water stopped raining down on top of her, she looked up in time to see the last wisps of the clouds disappearing. She heaved a sigh of relief, and then froze in case it made the clouds come back. But, the air above her remained clear, and she stepped out the shower to grab her towel.

After drying off and getting dressed, she went out into the living room, where Tyler was sitting on the couch with a bowl of cereal on the coffee table in front of him.

"Hey, Ty," she greeted the boy, and he looked up at her with a smile.

"Finally," he groused, but the smile indicated that he was teasing. "I thought you were going to be in there, forever. I had to go ask Henry if I could use his bathroom."

"Sorry about that," Paige apologized, sitting down beside him. "You were still asleep when I got up, and I didn't expect to take that long."

"That's okay," Tyler said, with a dismissive shrug. "Henry called it girl stuff and told me that I'd understand when I was older."

"Actually," Paige said, "it was more magical stuff." When Tyler looked at her in confusion, she elaborated, "I made it rain in the bathroom."

"Cool!" was Tyler's immediate reply, and she was happy to see that the news wasn't freaking him out. "Can you do it, again?" he asked, and Paige shook her head.

"Not in the middle of the living room," she said. "Besides, I don't even know how it started in the first place."

"That's so cool," Tyler gushed, not perturbed in the least by her lack of enthusiasm. "We can practice our powers, together!" Then, his face fell as he added, "At least, for as long as I get to stay here."

Paige had been thinking the same thing ever since the first night she'd taken Tyler home, and she'd felt much the same way. She hated the prospect of seeing Tyler leave, and she was glad to see that he seemed to feel the same way.

"What would you say," she asked, "about making this arrangement permanent?"

Tyler's eyes lit up as he stared at her in shock.

"You mean, I could stay here?" he asked, incredulously. "You want me to stay?"

"More than anything," Paige told him, and he lunged across the space between them, wrapping his arms around her in a crushing hug.

"No one's ever said they wanted me, before," he cried, into her shoulder, and she could feel his shoulders shaking as she hugged him back.

"I want you," she told him, firmly,

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"Did you find the demon, yet?"

"Not yet," Prue answered, absently, trapping the cordless phone between her shoulder and jaw, keeping her hands free to flip through the Book of Shadows. "You said that they appeared in puffs of smoke?"

"Yeah," Piper told her. "In the middle of the alleyway, right after I chased the thief out of P3."

"You know, I don't remember this much info being in the Book," Prue muttered, absently, as she flipped more pages. Louder, she asked, "Your powers didn't have any affect?"

"Well, it pissed them off," Piper said, dryly. "Other than that, my powers didn't do a damn thing. They didn't freeze, and they certainly didn't blow up."

"Well, that's just great," Prue grumbled. "So, we have unknown demons running around San Francisco, and no way to vanquish them."

"Pretty much," Piper confirmed. "Oh, and one really freaked out Innocent. Although, I don't think he'll ever try to rob anything, ever again."

"What did you tell him?" Prue asked, curiously. "You didn't tell him the truth, did you?"

"God, no," Piper answered, snorting out a laugh. "No, I told him that they were my ex-boyfriend's crazy sisters, and they hated me and were going after the person they thought was my new boyfriend."

"And he bought that?" Prue asked, incredulously.

"Hook, line, and sinker," Piper told her. "And then I called Darryl and had the guy arrested for threatening my new bartender at gun point and robbing my club."

"So, except for the demons," Prue commented, "things turned out okay?"

"As well as anything could, anyway," Piper said. "But, you know what's been bothering me? I can't figure out why the demons were going after this Innocent."

"What do you mean?" Prue asked.

"According to Darryl," Piper told her, "this guy has a rap sheet as long as his arm. And demons don't usually go after bad guys."

"Maybe they were trying to recruit him?" Prue suggested.

"Not unless they do their recruiting at the business end of four-inch-long talons," Piper replied. "No, I think they were genuinely trying to kill him."

"Vigilante demons," Prue remarked, shaking her head in disbelief. "Now, I've seen everything."

"I just hope we can find them before they go after someone else," Piper said. "And that we don't need the Power of Three to vanquish them."

When she fell silent, Prue knew that Piper was thinking about their missing sister.

"Still nothing on Phoebe from Missing Persons?" she asked.

"Not even a little hint," Piper said, frustration evident in her voice.

"Well, we knew it was a long shot to begin with," Prue reminded her, and Piper sighed.

"I know," she said, quietly. "Darryl didn't have anything on Paige, either," she added, a moment later. "And, he said that he'd try to talk to that guy, Mitchell, who was with future-Paige, but he keeps missing him at work."

"So, basically, we're at a dead end," Prue said, now also frustrated. "You know, considering that we're two of the most powerful witches in the world, you think we'd have an easier time finding our own sisters."

A bright light caught her attention out of the corner of her eye, and she turned to see a swirl of orbs coalescing in the middle of the attic.

"Piper, I've got to go," she told her sister. "Gregory's orbing in."

"How did you know it was me?" the Whitelighter asked, obviously having overheard her last comment.

"Because if it was Leo," Prue pointed out, pressing the power button on the phone, "he'd have gone to see Piper, first."

"How is Piper after those demons attacked?" Gregory asked, concerned. "I could only stay long enough to heal the scratches on her cheek; I was called away by another charge before I could find out everything that had happened."

"She's fine," Prue assured him. "I just hope those talons weren't tipped in poison, or anything."

"Even if they were, I would have gotten it," Gregory told her. "I'm very thorough when I heal someone."

"Now I just have to find these demons," Prue said, turning her attention back to the Book.

"Catch me up," Gregory requested, leaning over her shoulder to look at the Book.

"Piper said that they smoked into the alley," Prue replied. "They had long talons and they were immune to Piper's powers."

"May I?" Gregory asked, gesturing to the Book.

As Prue stepped away to give him access, he flipped through the pages, looking for something.

"Most demons shimmer," he continued, glancing up at her. "Transporting themselves through smoke is pretty rare. Talons aren't all that common, either. Did Piper say anything else?"

"Just that one of the demons had the Innocent pinned to the ground," Prue told him. "She said that it looked like she was trying to bite him."

"Bite him," Gregory asked, sharply, "or breathe on him?"

"Do you recognize the demons?" Prue asked, picking up on the interested tone in his voice.

"They sound like Furies," he replied.

"The dog-faced women from Hell?" Prue asked, doubtfully, and the Whitelighter nodded.

"Well, a modern version, anyway," he amended. "Their MO is the same, though. They go after evil doers."

"Wouldn't that make them good?" Prue asked, but Gregory shook his head.

"They'll go after anyone," he told her. "They pursue shoplifters with the same zeal as they do demons." Then he stopped on a page in the Book, stabbing at it with his finger. "And here they are."

He moved aside so that Prue could read the entry, and her eyebrows flew up as she scanned the page.

"Talk about nasty," she muttered. "It says here that they exhale their smoke into their victims, causing them to burst into flames."

"Hell of a way to die," Gregory remarked. "Does it say how you're supposed to vanquish the Furies?"

"There's a potion," Prue told him. "It looks simple enough to make."

"Do you need any help?" Gregory offered, but Prue shook her head.

"Thanks, anyway, but I've got it," she told him, as she descended the stairs to the kitchen. "And, thanks, for everything you've done for us for the past few days. It must be hard trying to keep up with us in addition to your other charges."

"Yeah," Gregory said, a guilty look on his face as he drew the word out. "About that."

"What's wrong?" Prue demanded. "Don't the Elders think you're doing a good job?"

"It's nothing to do with that," Gregory replied. "It's just that, with Leo still missing, it's looking more and more like a long-term assignment. And it's not fair to either you two or my other charges to keep splitting my attention like I have been."

"You're a good Whitelighter," Prue protested, automatically.

"A good Whitelighter would have stuck around longer after healing Piper," Gregory pointed out. "I had to go after one of my other charges, and hope that Piper would have been able to call me if anything else went wrong. And I can't keep putting you both in danger like that. You're the Charmed Ones; you need a full-time Whitelighter."

"So, what?" Prue asked, an irritated tone in her voice. "The Elders are just going to assign us another Whitelighter? With our luck, it'll probably be another slave driver like Natalie. "

"Natalie just had a hard time relating to her charges," Gregory said, in defense of his fallen comrade. "But, if this new Whitelighter is some kind of hard-ass, give me a call, and I'll try to talk the Elders around."

"You don't know who our new Whitelighter is?" Prue asked, and Gregory shook his head.

"No idea," he replied. "Your new Whitelighter probably doesn't even know about you two, yet. We don't get a lot of advance notice when we're assigned charges."

"I'm surprised they assigned you to us in the first place," Prue commented, "since you said that Leo was your mentor and taught you everything you know."

"I think they figured that I was one of the few Whitelighters you'd actually be able to work with," Gregory told her. "And, trust me, it was a short list."

"I think I'll take that as a compliment," Prue decided, after thinking about it for a moment.

"Anyway," Gregory said, chuckling, "your new Whitelighter should be here at any moment-"

He trailed off when a swirl of lights appeared in the kitchen, stepping back to give the other Whitelighter room to form. Prue waited for the lights to clear, and then her jaw dropped in amazement.

"Andy?" she demanded in shock, and her former boyfriend smiled at her.

"Hey, Prue," he greeted.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

"Hey, Prue," Andy greeted her, as she moved forward and pulled him into a hard hug. "How've you been?"

"You've been dead for two years, and that's all you can say?" Prue asked, but she was smiling as she pulled away from him.

"How about, 'it's good to see you,'?" he tried again.

"Better," Prue told him.

"I take it you two know each other?" Gregory asked, curiously. When Prue nodded, he continued, "then I'll leave you two alone. Good luck, Prue; tell Piper I said good-bye, will you?"

"Sure," Prue told him. "And, thanks, again, for all your help."

Gregory orbed out, leaving her alone with Andy in the kitchen. Prue could have spent the rest of the day just staring at him, but she still had things to do.

"So, you're a Whitelighter, now?" she asked, turning her attention back to the potion she'd been working on.

"After I died," Andy told her, "I was given a choice. I could move on, or I could become a Whitelighter and continue helping people. I made my choice, and I never looked back."

"Leo never told us any of this," Prue said, but Andy shook his head, quickly.

"He didn't know," he told her. "He wasn't allowed, since he was so close to you three."

"Well, then how did you convince the Elders to let you be our Whitelighter?" Prue asked. "I mean, if they didn't want us to know that you were still around, why assign you to us?"

"They didn't have a whole lot of choices," Andy replied. "And they needed someone who would not only work well with you three, but with Leo, as well. Apparently my posting is going to be permanent, even after Leo comes back."

"Two Whitelighters?" Prue asked, and Andy nodded.

"The attack by Shax was a wake-up call," he told her. "The Elders realized just how close they came to losing the Charmed Ones, and that's a risk they can't afford to take."

"Well, good for them to realize that," Prue replied, "but without Phoebe, we still don't have the Charmed Ones. Have they thought about that?"

"They're working on it," Andy assured her, quickly. "But, they also want to make sure that nothing happens to you or Piper, in the meantime."

Prue just nodded, working quietly on the potion to vanquish the Furies, and out of the corner of her eye, she could see a worried expression on Andy's face.

"You're okay with this, right?" he asked. "Me being your Whitelighter, I mean? Because if you're not, then I could ask the Elders for reassignment."

"No!" Prue said, quickly, and the worried look disappeared from his face. "No," she repeated. "I just – I hate feeling helpless. I hate knowing that Phoebe and Paige are out there, somewhere, and we can't find them. They're my sisters, and they could in danger, and I can't do anything about it!"

The kitchen was plunged into silence as she finished, and she realized that she'd been shouting. She looked at Andy, who had a sympathetic look on his face.

"You're not helpless," he told her. "Far from it. Prue, you're one of the most capable women I've ever known. If anyone is going to figure this out, it's going to be you. I just know it."

"Thanks," Prue said, smiling at him.

She returned to the potion, turning the stove on and setting the saucepan over the flames. As she stirred the potion, she eyed it critically as she waited for it to boil.

"I heard a rumor Up There," Andy told her, watching her work. "Paige from the future, the one who was killed by Shax? Apparently, she disappeared. Or, rather, her soul did."

"What do you mean, disappeared?" Prue asked. "Do you mean that there are two versions of my younger sister running around? One living and one dead?"

"I don't know," Andy admitted. "But, from what I heard, one of the Angels of Death was escorting her soul to the afterlife when she just stopped and told him that she wasn't going to go."

"That sounds like something that a Halliwell would do," Prue remarked, feeling a spark of pride for the younger sister she had yet to meet.

"Then," Andy went on, "she just disappeared. Death couldn't find her, anywhere."

"Which brings me back to my original question," Prue said. "Are there two versions of Paige running around out there?"

"One of the Elders told me about what they did with the man who came back with her," Andy said, rather than giving her a yes or no answer. "They couldn't have two of the same person running around, so a couple of the more sympathetic Elders merged his future soul with his current one. They essentially updated him with memories of a future that's not going to happen, anymore."

"What, exactly, are you getting at?" Prue asked.

"They think the same thing might have happened to Paige," Andy told her.

"You mean that Paige might have-" Prue trailed off, unsure of what she was trying to say, but Andy got it, anyway."

"She might have intentionally updated herself," he finished for her. "And if she's got even some of her memories of the future, then she's not likely to be as helpless as you might think."

"I'm liking this girl more and more," Prue said, grinning. "It sounds like she's going to fit right in with this family."

The sound of the doorbell had her looking up toward the doorway, and she turned the stove down to a simmer before leaving the kitchen. Andy trailed her out to the foyer, but he paused before she could open the front door.

"I should probably get out of here," he said, quickly. "Seeing as how I'm supposed to be dead, and all."

"It's just Darryl," Prue told him, checking the peephole.

"Then, I should definitely get out of here," Andy decided.

"Darryl knows everything," Prue assured him. "Trust me, he'll be just as happy to see you as I was."

So saying, she threw the front door open and stepped aside before Darryl could even say hello, giving him a clear view of his former partner. In the doorway, Darryl was staring at Andy in shock, his mouth moving, soundlessly as he tried to force words out. He looked quickly from Andy to her, as though trying to figure out if he was hallucinating, and Prue just nodded in confirmation.

"Hey, Darryl," Andy greeted, coming forward. "How've you been?"

"I've been good," Darryl said, faintly, moving into the foyer so that Prue could shut the door behind him. "You?"

"Dead, mostly," Andy said, grinning. "But, that got old, fast, so-"

"He's a Whitelighter," Prue interrupted, taking pity on Darryl. "He was assigned to us while Leo is still missing."

"Just when I thought I'd seen everything," Darryl said, shaking his head in amazement.

Then, laughing, he stepped forward and pulled Andy into a quick hug. Prue hid a grin behind her hand when she saw them thump each other on the back like jocks in a locker room.

"So, what's going on, Darryl?" she asked, as the men separated. "Did you find anything out about Phoebe or Paige?"

"Paige," Darryl told her, as he and Andy followed her back into the kitchen. "Child Protective Services turned up a record of a female infant left at a church twenty-five years ago. August second, to be specific."

"Which church?" Prue asked, her attention on the herbs she was carefully chopping up.

"Saint Anthony's," Darryl answered. "At seventeen-twenty-three Oakland Street."

"And you're sure that this baby was Paige?" Prue asked him.

"According to the CPS report, the nun who called it in told the officers that the baby was given to her by angels," Darryl said. "Angels who appeared in bright white lights. Sound familiar?"

"Oh, yeah?" Prue muttered. "I don't suppose you have a current address for Paige, or even a last name?"

"I'm still trying to convince CPS to release those records," Darryl said. "Problem is, everything was sealed, and they're being very reluctant to unseal the adoption records."

Prue sighed in frustration. "At least this is more than we had, this morning," she said, trying to look for a bright side to the situation.

Adding the herbs to the still-simmering potion, she grabbed a ginger root and placed it on the cutting board.

"Are you making a potion, or baking cookies?" Darryl joked, and Prue shot him a withering look.

"Do you want to vanquish the demons?" she asked, and then she hissed in pain as the knife slipped on the root, slicing into her finger. "Damn it," she muttered, grabbing for a towel to stop the bleeding.

"Let me look at it," Andy said, reaching for her hand.

"Did I bleed in the vanquishing potion?" Prue asked, craning her head over to peer at the saucepan.

"Better hope not," Darryl said, jokingly. "You might vanquish yourself or Piper, by accident."

Prue froze at his words, and then she jerked her hand out of Andy's grip before he could heal her finger.

"Darryl, you're a genius," she crowed, running for the stairs.

"What did I say?" Darryl asked, but she was too busy to answer him.

Entering the attic, she headed for the map and scrying crystal that were still laid out on the floor where they'd been for the last four days. A nudge with her power had the crystal flying through the air towards her and she grabbed it with her good hand.

Unwrapping the towel from around her cut finger, she let a few drops of blood fall onto the crystal, staining the clear surface. The blood was still clinging to the crystal as she dropped to the floor beside the map, dangling the crystal over the surface.

"Come on, come on," she muttered, concentrating as the crystal started moving slowly over the surface of the map. "Please, let this work."

"What are you doing?" Andy asked, as he and Darryl stopped beside her.

"Phoebe and Paige aren't just witches," Prue pointed out, her eyes fixed on the map. "They're my sisters. We share blood."

"And if you scry with that blood," Andy said, catching on, "you might find them. Or, one of them, anyway."

"Exactly," Prue said, satisfied.

The crystal dropped a few seconds later, but she shook her head before either of the men could get excited.

"That's P3," she said, setting the crystal to searching, again. "Piper's still there, and the crystal homed in on her."

The crystal found Piper two more times, and Prue was starting to get frustrated. Then, finally, the crystal dropped onto a new location, and she moved it to see where it had landed.

"Hey, Darryl," she asked, "what did you say that church's address was?"

"Oakland and eighteenth," the man answered.

"Anyone want to guess where this crystal just landed?" Prue asked, rhetorically. Not waiting for an answer, she grabbed the phone and dialed Piper's cell. "Piper, I found her. I found Paige."


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note: **Thanks to everyone who's been reading and reviewing.

**Chapter Ten**

Looking furtively around her to make sure no one was watching her, Paige placed a single sheet of paper in the center of her desk. Then, holding her hand out, she bit her lip as she focused on making the paper move.

She had no idea if she could do it, again, but after last night's incident with the remote, and then the shower incident earlier that morning, she knew she couldn't risk her newfound powers getting out of control. The last thing she needed was to create a storm in the middle of the office.

_'Come here,'_ she thought, focusing on the paper.

For a few seconds, nothing happened, but then the paper shuddered on the desk. She concentrated harder, but the paper didn't move any more. Instead, her pencil cup tipped over, suddenly, pens rolling across the surface of her desk. One was rolling toward the edge of the desk, and she focused on it, a tiny furrow appearing on her forehead as she glared at the pen.

The pen had just started to fall when it seemed to jump in mid-air, flipping around on the puff of wind that left her hand. The pen shot back toward her and she caught it before it could hit her, grinning in triumph.

"I did it," she said, in satisfaction.

Granted, it was only moving one pen, and even that was probably a fluke, but it was still a step in the right direction. And now she knew how Tyler had felt when he'd been able to light a candle wick during their practice.

She kept up the practice while she worked, and after nearly an hour of effort, she managed to finally make the piece of paper float a few inches above her desk. Of course, she had a major headache to show for all of her effort, but she dug through her purse for the bottle of ibuprofen she kept there, downing the pills with the bottle of water she kept on her desk.

"Matthews!" Cowan bellowed, suddenly. "My office!"

Paige flinched as her boss's voice carried across the room, people looking over at her in its wake. Filing away the application she'd been working on, she stood and headed for Cowan's office.

"Shut the door," he said, not looking up from the stack of paper on his desk. "Have a seat."

"Is something wrong?" she asked, carefully, taking the seat he'd indicated across the desk.

"There's a problem with your request to adopt Tyler Martin," he said, without preamble, and Paige found her heart sinking.

"What is it?" she asked, dreading the answer. "Is it because I'm single? Because I work odd hours? Half the staff here works crazy shifts."

"It's nothing to do with you, Paige," Cowan assured her, which only confused her more.

"Well, then why would there be a problem with my application?" she asked. "There wasn't a problem with the temporary placement; why would a permanent placement cause trouble?"

"Tyler's biological parents showed up," Cowan told her, obviously seeing no other way to soften the blow.

"What?" Paige demanded, not sure if she'd heard the older man correctly. "You're telling me that, after nine years, these people show up out of the blue, and what? What could they possibly want?"

"They want to take Tyler back," Cowan said, and Paige blinked, in shock.

"They can't," she protested, automatically.

"Paige, they're his parents," Cowan retorted. "They want their son to come home."

But, Paige shook her head at his words, taking a deep breath to try and calm herself before she spoke.

"You and I both know that's a load of bull," she snapped. "His parents abandoned him when he was three years old, left him wandering around Chinatown for a day before someone found him. They certainly didn't want him then; why the hell would they want him, now?"

"I don't know," Cowan told her.

"You're not seriously going to let these people take Tyler, are you?" Paige demanded, cutting him off. "He can't go back to them."

"I'm trying," Cowan told her. "Believe me, Paige, I'm doing everything I can to block this."

"But?" Paige prompted, sensing that there was more to be said.

"But, the final decision isn't up to me," he said, gently. "And, they're appealing their case to a judge in two hours."

"I want to be there," Paige said, immediately, but Cowan shook his head.

"You're too close to this," he said. "I'll handle this, Paige. And I'll call you when it's over."

"So, what am I supposed to do?" Paige protested, weakly. "Just sit around and wait to hear if I've lost my son?"

"Get out of the office for a while," Cowan told her. "Go with Maggie Carter and Adam O'Brian to that boarding school interview. It'll be a good experience for when you're flying solo."

Paige nodded, wordlessly, leaving the office and heading for her desk. Maggie was waiting for her by her desk, and from the sympathetic look the other woman shot her, Paige was pretty sure that her conversation with Cowan had already made it around the office. The downside to working in such a small environment; nothing stayed private for very long.

"You okay?" Maggie asked, quietly, and Paige jerked her shoulder in a shrug.

"I don't know," she admitted, sighing. "I just want to keep busy until I know for sure how things stand."

Thankfully, Maggie took the hint, and they went out into the parking lot. Paige followed Maggie in her car, and, after picking Adam O'Brian up from school, they made it to the boarding school with nearly fifteen minutes before the interview.

The interview was fairly lengthy, and Paige tried her best to concentrate on the proceedings. She knew she participated, answering the headmaster's questions about Adam, but for the life of her, she had no idea what she'd said. All she could think about was the impending court case, and whether she was going to lose Tyler before she'd even gotten a chance to really know him.

Finally, the interview was over, and Maggie was grinning ear to ear as they left, Adam's admittance papers in her hand. The boy was beaming as well, and Paige pushed her black thoughts to the back of her mind, forcing a smile onto her face when they both looked at her.

"Congrats," she told Adam, who looked so happy that he could fly.

"Are you coming back to the office?" Maggie asked, as they reached their cars.

"I'm going to take an early lunch," Paige told the other woman, opening her door. "Take some time to think about things."

"Where are you going?" Maggie asked, curiously.

"Church," Paige told her. "I'll see you back at work."

Saint Anthony's was just as she remembered, as she pulled into the parking lot. The gargoyles out front had weathered with time, and she remembered how much they used to scare her when she was young. She'd absolutely refused, for a time, to even go near the church, convinced that the gargoyles were really monsters that were going to eat her.

Now, she couldn't help but smile at the almost comical expressions on their stone faces. The creatures weren't nearly so frightening now that she was older.

Inside, the church was almost empty, save for a single nun tending to the candles on the altar.

"Excuse me?" Paige asked, approaching the older woman. "I'm looking for a Sister Agnes?"

"I'm Sister Agnes," the woman told her, turning around, and Paige found herself looking at an elegant woman in her fifties. "Can I help you?"

"I hope so," Paige said, fervently. "My name is Paige Matthews."

"I'm sorry," Sister Agnes said, a confused look on her face. "I don't think we've met."

"Well, we have, but it's been a few years," Paige said, apologetically. "Does August second, nineteen-seventy-seven ring any bells?"

She'd been expecting a reaction, but not the one she got. Sister Agnes gasped, her hand flying to her mouth as she stared at Paige. Tears filled her eyes and she reached out and grabbed Paige's hands.

"Oh, my dear," she said, smiling. "I've been waiting so long for you to come back."

"Waiting for me?" Paige asked, confused. "Sister, I didn't even know that I was coming here until a few minutes ago."

"I knew you'd be coming back here, one day," Sister Agnes told her. "I knew you'd have questions. And your parents wanted me to be able to answer them, for you."

"My parents?" Paige echoed.

"The ones who left you here, twenty-five years ago," Sister Agnes said. "The angels."

"Angels?" Paige asked, feeling like she was getting nowhere. Every question just served to make her more and more confused.

"Your adoptive parents were amazing people," Sister Agnes said. "But, you come from angels."

"You'll forgive me if I find all of this a little hard to believe," Paige said, stunned.

"You came here for answers, didn't you?" Sister Agnes asked. "To find out who you really are?"

"Honestly," Paige told the other woman, "I don't really know what I was expecting when I came here."

"Come with me," Sister Agnes said, taking her by the arm and leading her back to the office. "There's something I have to show you."

Opening a file cabinet by the window, Sister Agnes pulled a pink bundle out of one of the drawers. When she turned around, Paige saw that she was holding a baby blanket.

"You were wrapped in this when they brought you to me," Sister Agnes told her, handing over the blanket.

Unwrapping it, Paige draped the soft fleece over her arm, tracing over the embroidered P in the corner with a shaky hand.

"They wanted your name to start with a P," Sister Agnes said, quietly.

"They," Paige echoed. "You mean the angels?"

"They appeared in a swirl of bright, white lights," Sister Agnes said. "Your mother was holding you in her arms, and they were so scared."

"Why?" Paige asked, concerned. "Were they in trouble?"

"They said that you were in grave danger," Sister Agnes went on. "That the only way to protect you was to give you up. That they had no other choice."

"Wow," Paige said, quietly, as she tried to absorb everything that Sister Agnes had told her. "Did – did they say anything else?"

"Just how much they loved you," Sister Agnes told her. The phone rang, then, and she gave Paige an apologetic smile. "I have to get this."

"Of course," Paige said, quickly. "I'm sorry I kept you from your work. Thank you for everything that you've told me."

Leaving Sister Agnes to her phone call, Paige went out into the main part of the church. She sank down into a pew, wrapping her arms around the blanket as she stared off into the distance. The candles on the altar had all been lit, and the pinpoints of flame were almost mesmerizing.

"Angels," she muttered, not really believing the words that were leaving her mouth. "My birth parents are angels."

_'Whitelighter.'_ The word seemed to echo through her mind, although she had no idea where she'd heard it.

"Half-Whitelighter, and half-witch," she said, testing the words. They sounded right, even though she didn't know what all of it meant.

She groaned, dropping her head into her hands. She could feel the beginnings of a headache starting, and she was starting to wonder if coming to the church had been a good idea. The last thing she needed was more stress on top of everything else going on right now.

_'I just want to figure out what's going on,' _she thought, looking back up at the empty church. _'I just want some answers to all of this.'_

Predictably, the empty church offered no answers. Suddenly restless, Paige stood, still clutching the blanket to her chest. She paced down the aisle toward the door, intending to just go back to work. If she was going to be distracted, she might as well be at the office, where she at least had a chance of getting stuff done.

But, she was stopped halfway there when the door opened and two women entered the church. The first woman, tall with short, dark hair, was completely unfamiliar, but the second woman sparked recognition when Paige saw her.

She was sure that she'd never seen this woman, before, but at the same time, she knew this woman as well as she knew herself. Knew that she had a husband and children that she loved, that she was fiercely protective of her family, that she was a force to be reckoned with.

This woman, this stranger, was her sister.

The women headed for her when they saw her, and Paige froze as they got closer.

"Paige Matthews?" the first woman asked, but Paige wasn't paying attention to her.

Instead, she looked past her to the other woman, the one who was so familiar.

"Piper?" she asked, incredulously.


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note: **Thanks so much to everyone who's been reading and reviewing.

**Chapter Eleven**

"Are you sure that we're going to find Paige at this church?" Piper asked, as she navigated the busy streets.

Prue had orbed to the club with Andy, after she'd gotten off the phone with Piper, and after a brief but joyful reunion between herself and the Whitelighter, she and Prue had left to go to the church. Andy had returned to the Manor to look through the Book of Shadows for any further leads on the Furies.

"That's where the crystal landed," Prue protested, defending her scrying skills. "What, don't you want to finally meet Paige?"

"Well, what are we supposed to say to this girl?" Piper demanded. "Hey, guess what, we're your sisters, and, oh by the way, we're witches?"

"We should probably ease into that last part," Prue said, and Piper shot her an incredulous look.

"You think?" she muttered.

"What's wrong?" Prue asked, obviously concerned.

"We've been so busy trying to find Paige," Piper admitted, "that we haven't really had a chance to sit down and talk about it."

"You mean trying to fit a new sister into our lives?" Prue guessed, and Piper nodded.

"Exactly," she said. "We don't even have our whole family back together, and we're looking to bring someone new into the mix? This is turning our lives upside down. And it's not just ours. What if Paige doesn't even want sisters?"

"Future Paige must have," Prue pointed out. "She came back in time and died to save our lives."

"Yeah, but who knows what we've done to change things," Piper said. "What if she doesn't even like us?"

"What's not to like?" Prue asked, rhetorically. "We're here," she added, unnecessarily, as Piper pulled into the church parking lot.

But, Piper took the hint and stopped freaking out. At least out loud, where Prue couldn't hear her. As they entered the church, Prue glanced up at the gargoyles and shuddered.

"Creepy," she explained, when Piper looked at her in surprise. "Those things have always freaked me out."

Inside the church, the large space was empty expect for a woman sitting halfway up the aisle, her head buried in her hands. Even as they started down the aisle toward her, the woman stood and started walking toward the doors. Then, she stopped, staring at them with a shocked look on her face.

"Paige Matthews?" Prue asked, when they reached the woman.

But, the young woman wasn't paying attention to Prue, staring at Piper, instead, like she was seeing a ghost.

"Piper?" she whispered, incredulously.

"Maybe we won't have so much to explain?" Prue suggested, optimistically. To Paige, she added, "I'm Prue Halliwell. This is my sister, Piper."

"I – I know," Paige stammered, still staring at them in shock. "But, I don't know how I know that. Oh, God, I really am going crazy."

"You're not crazy," Piper spoke up, quickly, remembering what Prue had told her about Paige potentially having memories of the future. "But, you probably are really confused."

"That's an understatement," Paige muttered, sinking down into the nearest pew and dropping her head into her hands, again.

She was silent for so long that Piper was starting to get worried, but then she looked up at them, biting her lip, nervously.

"Are you really my sisters?" she asked, quietly. "I didn't just make that up in my head?"

"Us, and our other sister, Phoebe," Piper assured her, and a distinctly relieved look flashed across the younger woman's face.

"And witches are real?" Paige pressed, insistently. "And Whitelighters, whatever they are?"

"Whitelighters are kind of like guardian angels," Prue said. "And, yeah, witches are real. We think you might be one."

"Well, at least I know I'm not nuts," Paige said, weakly.

"You're not crazy," Piper repeated, firmly.

"It's just," Paige went on, "I've got all these strange thoughts in my head, all these memories, and I shouldn't know any of this stuff!"

Her voice cracked on the last word, and Piper wondered how long she'd been holding everything in. She remembered how confusing the whole magic thing had been when she'd first found out, and she'd had two sisters and the Book of Shadows to help her out. It sounded like Paige didn't have anyone to really confide in, and Piper wondered how she was managing to keep from going crazy.

"There's actually an explanation for the weird memories, too," Prue spoke up, and Piper shot her an incredulous look.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" she muttered, knowing what Prue was about to lay on the younger woman.

Magic was one thing, but finding out that time travel was real, and that a future version of herself had died, and it was her memories that Paige was experiencing was probably too much for anyone to handle, no matter how strong she was.

"What is it?" Paige asked, impatiently. "Some kind of magical schizophrenia? Am I seeing some sort of past life?" she added, sarcastically.

"Future life, actually," Prue told her, and Paige's jaw dropped.

"Excuse me?" she demanded.

"All these strange thoughts and memories started about three days ago, right?" Piper asked, figuring that if Prue was going to spill the beans, she might as well help her.

"Yeah," Paige said, cautiously. "And they've been getting more frequent every day since."

"Four days ago," Prue continued, picking up the thread, "Piper and I were attacked by a demon-"

"Demon?" Paige echoed, a slightly panicked look in her eyes. "Like hellfire and brimstone demons?"

"We'll get to that," Prue told her. "Anyway, Piper and I were attacked by a demon, and we were saved by another witch. Specifically, you. From the future."

"Are you sure that insanity doesn't run in our family?" Paige joked, weakly, her face pale and her hands shaking.

"Well, that's never been conclusively proven," Piper muttered, and Prue elbowed her in the side, hard.

"So, future-me came back to the past," Paige said, clearly trying to wrap her mind around the concept. "And I – or, she, rather – fought a demon?"

"Saved our lives," Prue pointed out.

"Does that mean that there's another me running around?" Paige asked.

"Um," Prue hesitated, and it was clear that she didn't quite know how to phrase the next part. "Not really."

"Then, what, really?" Paige demanded.

The shaky, hesitant tone was gone from her voice, to be replaced by the steely tone that Piper had heard Prue use with demons, telemarketers, and repairmen who'd just given them bad news. Under the fear and confusion was clearly a tough, capable woman, and it was clear that she was going to fit in just fine with the rest of the Halliwell family.

"Future Paige kind of died," Piper said, and Paige fell back against the pew, staring off into space.

"Died?" she echoed.

"And then her spirit disappeared and we think that maybe it kind of merged with yours," Piper continued, quickly, before Paige could get too caught up in the dying part. "And that would explain the weird memories. It's a future life you've been seeing."

She and Prue waited breathlessly for Paige's reaction, wondering if the knowledge was enough to give the woman the breakdown she'd obviously been hovering on for some time. Paige, for her part, was still staring at the front of the church, seemingly mesmerized by the row of candles on the altar.

Then, slowly, she held her hand out in front of her.

"Candle," she said, quietly, and then she gave a weak laugh when nothing happened. "I don't know why I expected that to work," she went on, still not looking over at Piper and Prue. "I mean, things are bound to be different, right?"

"Probably," Prue said, exchanging a look with Piper as they tried to figure out what she was talking about.

"But, maybe," Paige continued, and then she trailed off as she held her hand out toward the row of candles, again.

A line furrowed in the center of her forehead, and she bit her lip in concentration.

"Come on," Piper heard her mutter to herself. "This is just like that piece of paper."

Then, she yelped in panic when a bolt of lightning shot out of her hand to strike the candle. The candle was obliterated in a puff of smoke, and Paige stared at her empty hand in shock.

"That wasn't supposed to happen," she said, weakly, while Piper and Prue stared at her in amazement. "That was just supposed to be wind," she explained, and it was clear that she was trying not to squirm under their incredulous gazes. "I wasn't supposed to kill the candle."

"Well, that's something you and Piper have in common," Prue said, clearly at a loss for anything else to say. "Her powers are out of control, too."

"They are not," Piper protested, and Prue gave her a withering look.

"Did you, or did you not, blow up the coffee maker, this morning?" she asked, pointedly.

"Maybe," Piper muttered, sheepishly.

"If it makes you feel any better," Paige spoke up, "I made it rain in the bathroom, this morning." Then, the full impact of what she'd said hit her, and she gave a weak chuckle. "God, is this what all of our conversations are going to sound like, from now on?"

"Yeah, we're not exactly normal," Piper told her. "Although, I gotta say, electricity is a pretty cool power."

"I think I'd rather just make it rain, if it's all the same to you," Paige joked, nervously.

"Are you okay?" Prue asked, worriedly. "Believe me, I know how hard it can be to try and take all of this in."

"I think I can handle it," Paige told them. "I mean, I did once, right?" she added, her voice growing stronger with resolve. "Or, will – is time travel always this confusing?"

"Always," Piper replied.

"Is that supposed to be reassuring?" Paige muttered. "Hopefully you're better at it by the time you have kids." She froze, clearly thinking over what she'd just said, and then she added, "I have no idea where that came from."

"Maybe more future knowledge?" Prue suggested, and Paige groaned.

"That's going to get old real fast," she decided.

When her phone rang, suddenly, in the quiet space, all three of them jumped at the sound. Then, Paige pulled her phone out of her pocket and quickly checked the display.

"I need to take this," she said, brusquely, and then she walked up to the altar, flipping her phone opening and answering as she moved.

Piper couldn't hear what she was saying, but it was clear that Paige was agitated. She was pacing in front of the altar, her hands moving restlessly while she kept the phone trapped between her ear and shoulder. Her gestures were becoming more erratic, more emphatic, the longer she talked to the person on the other end of the line, and Piper was starting to get worried about her younger sister.

The feeling only intensified when she looked closer and realized that tiny sparks were jumping off of Paige's skin and weaving through her long hair, making the air around her shimmer with electricity. Piper nudged Prue to get her attention, but she was already staring at Paige, her jaw dropping in shock.

"She's throwing off sparks of lightning," Prue finally managed, and Piper was impressed. It took a lot to stun her older sister into speechlessness.

Suddenly, Paige slammed her phone shut with a curse that carried clearly across the space to where they were sitting, and a surge of electricity gathered in her clenched fists, blinding them with its brightness, even from across the room.

When the light faded, Paige was staring down at her hands in dismay, and at the smoking remains of her phone. She started slowly back towards them, and Piper could see tear tracks streaking down her face that she was trying unsuccessfully to scrub away with her free hand.

"Paige, are you okay?" she asked, cautiously, and Paige just shook her head, wordlessly.

"I'm fostering this boy," she said, softly, as she sat down. "And then his birth parents – or at least people claiming to be – waltzed back into the picture and they're taking him away."

"Oh, honey, I'm so sorry," Piper told her.

"It's just, I don't understand how the judge could agree to let him go back with those people," Paige went on, her voice choked up with emotion. "They never wanted him; they abandoned him without a second thought. How could they just come back and –"

Her voice cracked as tears filled her eyes, and Piper reached out automatically to wrap her arms around her sister in a hug. Paige resisted for a second, but then she leaned into the embrace, burying her face into Piper's shoulder as she shook with silent sobs.

When she finally pulled away she was calmer, but her face was red with embarrassment.

"Sorry," she muttered. "I don't usually break down like that around people."

"We're not people," Piper told her. "We're your sisters."

"Thanks," Paige told her. Sighing heavily, she added, "I just wish I knew what I was going to do about this thing with Tyler's parents."

"We could always vanquish them for you," Prue suggested, getting a weak chuckle out of Paige.

"I should probably stick with more legal means, right now," she replied. Then she glanced at her watch and her eyes widened. "I have to get back to work before I get fired."

"Are you sure you're okay to drive?" Piper asked.

"I'm fine," Paige sighed. "But, I just have to get out of here, right now. Get too busy to think about things."

She'd started up the aisle, but stopped when the doors flew open, a shadow of a man standing in the doorway. As the man started toward them, Piper saw fireballs forming in each of his hands, and she started to yell a warning.

Then, a high-pitched, unending scream filled the air, drowning everything else out…


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Note: **Thank you so much to everyone who's been reading and reviewing. You guys are amazing.

**Chapter Twelve**

"What the hell is that?" Piper cried, clapping her hands over her ears as the unearthly scream went on and on. Ahead of her, Paige was clinging to the pew to keep from falling to the ground.

The demon who'd entered the church was writhing on the ground, his face screwed up in a rictus of pain. He'd collapsed as soon as the screaming had started, and there was blood pouring from his nose and eyes.

"The gargoyles," Paige gritted out, forcing herself to stay on her feet. "They come alive in the presence of evil."

"Handy bit of information," a new voice spoke up. "Saves us the trouble of tracking our prey."

"What the hell?" Prue muttered, staring at the trio of scantily-dressed women that had entered the church, stalking toward the downed demon.

"Those would be the Furies," Piper told her, in an undertone. "But, why aren't they being affected by the gargoyles?"

"We're not evil," the lead Fury spoke up, clearly having heard her comment. "Consider us to be neutral parties, if you will."

"You're here after him," Piper guessed, nodding at the demon, who was staring up at the Furies in fear, frozen from the combined powers of the gargoyles and the Furies' influence.

"The vanquish is ours," another Fury growled, glaring at them. "We don't need witches interfering with our business."

"Kill all the demons you want," Piper told them. "We've got no problems with fewer demons in the world. But, stay away from the humans."

"We hunt evil," the first Fury said. "No matter what form it takes."

"You can't hunt humans," Prue argued. "We've got laws to deal with human evil."

"Your mortal laws are weak and useless," the second Fury sneered. "Our process is much more efficient."

So saying, the trio stepped forward, toward the demon. Even as he tried to get away, the lead Fury grabbed his head in her hands, breathing on his face. The demon choked on the smoke that entered his mouth and nose, and then, while the Furies stepped back, the demon burst into flames, leaving only charred ashes behind.

Piper paled at the thought of what that would have done to the Innocent she'd saved, earlier. Beside her, Prue was glaring at the Furies, her hands clenched into fists to keep herself from attacking the trio. One her other side was Paige, and Piper snuck a look over at the younger woman, expecting to see panic and fear.

Instead, there was a determined look fixed firmly on her face, her eyes hard as she stared the lead Fury down. She didn't look as if any of this was surprising her, and Piper wondered if more of those future memories were coming into play.

"You are not judge, jury and executioner," Prue declared, suddenly, getting the Furies' attention. "And if you try to go after any more humans, we will vanquish you."

"I'd like to see you try," the lead Fury began, but then the third one, the one who'd been silent since they'd entered the church, stepped forward to look at them.

"The middle one," she said, nodding at Piper. "She's the one who stole our prey from us this morning, sister."

"Really," the lead Fury said, her eyes sharpening with interest. "Then we have a score to settle with you, witch."

"You'll have to go through us, first," Prue growled, and Paige nodded in agreement, stepping forward with Prue to block Piper from the Furies.

"Sounds fine to me," the lead Fury said, and then she and her sisters lunged at them.

Piper snapped her hands out, instinctively, as the leader of the Furies came at her. She knew that her powers weren't likely to be any more effective than they had been, before, but she was hoping to at least catch the Fury off guard.

Unfortunately, her powers were malfunctioning, again, and all she managed to do was blow up a section of the pew. The Fury smirked at her, advancing on her with her talons extended, and Piper switched tactics, trying to freeze the Fury, instead. That worked about as well as her last attempt.

She dodged the viciously sharp talons that swiped at her face, but then the Fury managed to knock her to the ground, her hand at Piper's throat as she pinned her to the floor. Piper stared up at the Fury looming over her, and then something crashed into the Fury's face, sending the demon flying backward.

"Keep your hands off my sister, you bitch," Paige snarled, a heavy silver candle holder clutched in her hands like a weapon.

"Spunky one, aren't you?" the Fury taunted, getting to her feet. "Be a pity to have to kill you."

"You can try," Paige retorted, challengingly.

The Fury came at them, again, ducking the candle holder that Paige swung at her head and seizing Paige's wrist in a crushing grip. Piper clubbed the Fury with her clenched fists, not willing to risk using her powers when she could hurt Paige, instead, but the Fury just shrugged off the blow.

With her free hand, she backhanded Piper, sending her flying up the aisle to crash, heavily into the ground. Prue, who was fighting the other two Furies, nearby, dispatched them both with a surge of her power that sent them soaring toward the door. Prue pulled her to her feet, and they turned to find Paige still fighting with the last Fury.

The Fury had her talons wrapped around Paige's throat, digging in deep enough to draw blood. Paige scrabbled at the Fury's vicious grip with her free hand, struggling to breathe. Her hands were sparking with electricity, but, unlike her cell phone, the Fury seemed unaffected. She just grinned, evilly, as she leaned closer to Paige, tendrils of smoke already leaving her mouth.

"No!" Piper and Prue screamed, in unison, but they were too late to do anything as the Fury breathed smoke into Paige's face.

But, Paige just choked on the smoke, and Piper breathed a sigh of relief when her younger sister didn't burst into flames. The Fury seemed perplexed, as well, and Paige took advantage of the opportunity to knock the Fury's hand away from her neck.

She stumbled backward, rubbing at the bruises on her neck as she coughed, trying to draw in a breath. The Fury had recovered quickly, and was coming at Paige, again, even as her sisters hurried to her side, and a panicked look came over Paige's face when she saw the demon advancing on her.

Then, the fear disappeared, replaced by a fierce scowl as she deliberately stepped forward to meet the Fury. She grabbed the Fury's arms, halting her in her tracks, and she tightened her grip. A second later, the Fury was consumed by the flames that leapt from Paige's hands, her dying screams filling the air.

When the flames died down, there was nothing but ashes covering a scorched mark on the carpet, and Paige was glaring down at the remains of the demon.

"Shake that off," she snarled, and then her head snapped up when the other two Furies started toward her. "You really want to try it?" she asked, softly, and in answer, they smoked out, disappearing from the church.

"Okay," Piper said, faintly, from where she and Prue had frozen in shock. "Don't ever piss off Paige."

"Noted," Prue replied.

They cautiously approached Paige, who was still staring down at the scorch marks on the carpet. As they got closer, Piper could hear her wheezing as she breathed, and she could see the rapidly-darkening bruises that ringed the younger woman's neck. Paige looked up at them as they stopped beside her, and there was a tired look in her eyes.

"For having never seen a demon, you were pretty amazing out there," Prue told her, and Paige gave her a small smile.

"I don't know where that came from," she admitted, quietly. "I just saw Piper in danger and I reacted. I wasn't even thinking; I just-"

"Kicked some major demon ass," Piper finished for her. "Which I'm grateful for, thank you."

"Looks like all that future knowledge came in handy," Prue remarked, but Paige shook her head.

"I don't know how," she said. "It's not like I'm getting anything useful; it's all just confusing flashes. I don't even know what those things were."

"They're called Furies," Prue told her. "And, speaking of, we should get our Whitelighter to take a look at those scratches on your neck. They might be poisoned, or something."

"No, the talons are fine; it's the smoke that's dangerous," Paige replied, absently. Then, an irritated look came over her face. "I hate that I know that kind of stuff, and I don't know how I know it."

"Why is the smoke dangerous?" Piper asked, catching on to what Paige had said.

"I don't know!" Paige said, frustrated. "I just know there's something bad about getting smoked."

"Which you did," Prue pointed out, and Paige sighed.

"Yeah, don't remind me," she muttered.

"Which is just more reason for us to call our Whitelighter," Piper said, firmly. "Andy!" she called out, without waiting for a reply, and a cloud of orbs formed a few feet away as Andy materialized in the church.

"You must be Paige," he said, when he saw the younger woman.

"I must be," Paige replied, wryly, shaking the hand he held out to her.

"So, what's the problem?" he asked.

"Paige got smoked by a Fury," Prue told him. "We need you to heal her."

Andy obligingly held his hands out over Paige's chest, a golden glow emanating from his palms. Paige's breathing was visibly eased as Andy healed her, and when he stepped back, there was a distinctly relieved look on her face.

"Thanks," she said. "I was beginning to think that I was going to be coughing all day."

"We should probably get out of here," Piper said, suddenly. "We don't want to have to answer any awkward questions if people come in."

"Good point," Prue said, and the four of them headed for the doors.

Out in the sunshine, Piper looked back to the gargoyles that guarded the church, but they'd fallen silent, again. She guessed that once the demon had been vanquished, they'd gone back to being stone, again. She also wondered if they could get some for the house, for a demonic alarm system.

"Probably wouldn't be very practical," Prue said, seeing the direction of her gaze and guessing what she was thinking.

"Probably not," Piper agreed, regretfully.

Glancing over, she saw Paige standing by the open door of her car, staring off into space. Going over to the younger woman, Piper laid a hand on her shoulder, getting her attention.

"Are you okay?" she asked, softly.

"I don't know," Paige admitted, quietly. "Now that the adrenaline's worn off, I'm just confused. I mean, I've got all of these strange memories floating around in my head and I still don't know what any of it means."

"We'll figure it out," Piper told her, getting a surprised look from Paige. "You're not alone, any more," she pointed out. "You've got sisters, now."

"Thanks," Paige said, with a small smile.

"Speaking of," Piper said, scrounging for a pen and a scrap of paper, "here are Prue's and my cell phone numbers," she added, scribbling on the paper and handing it to Paige. "If you need us, you call, any time, day or night."

"Thanks," Paige said, again, tucking the paper into her pocket. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go get my son back."

She climbed into her car and started the engine, and Piper watched her drive off. Paige had sounded fine, but Piper couldn't help but be worried. She had a nagging feeling that there was something that she just couldn't see.


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Note: **Thank you so much to everyone who's been reading and reviewing.

**Chapter Thirteen**

Fire was coursing through his veins. A white-hot agony pounded through him and he couldn't breathe. The pain was so intense that he wanted to die just to get away from it.

Then, as suddenly as it began, the pain stopped. Panting, Cole sagged forward with relief as his torturers stepped back. The chains that suspended him from the ceiling of the cavern went tight as his legs went out from underneath him, the magically-enhanced links the only thing holding him up from falling to the floor.

Cole blinked as blood flowed into his eyes, but he couldn't do anything to stop it, and a red haze filled his vision. His shoulders burned from having all of his weight supported by the muscles in his arms, a dull ache that paled in comparison to the agony of just a few moments earlier.

He waited, anxiously and with no small amount of fear, for the torture to start, again, but curiously, his tormentors weren't coming after him, again. Risking a glance up, he watched as a hooded figure swept into the cavern where he was being held, the trio of demons bowing immediately to their leader, heads lowered submissively to the floor.

The Source ignored the demons as he strode over to where Cole was restrained. Cole had to force himself not to flinch when the Source ran a razor sharp talon lightly over his cheek, tearing through his skin like it was paper, a thin line of blood snaking down the side of his face. Forcing his head up, Cole looked into the hood that covered the Source's ruined face, the space dark except for the glowing eyes that looked out at him from inside the depths.

Cole met the Source's burning gaze, unflinchingly, glaring up at the demon that had ruled his life for over one hundred years. Then, gathering all the moisture he had in his mouth, Cole spit into the Source's face, causing the demon to instinctively flinch out of the way. Then, the Source raked his talons across Cole's face, coming dangerously close to his eyes as he slashed at him.

"What did he tell you?" the Source demanded of the trio of demons, never looking away from Cole.

"Nothing," one of the demons managed to force out, clearly dreading delivering even that much bad news. "He didn't tell us anything."

"Then, obviously, you're not doing something right," the Source commented, and all three demons flinched, as though they expected to be incinerated on the spot.

"I assure you, my liege," another one of the demons dared to speak up, "we were very effective in trying to extract information from the traitor."

The Source was ominously silent as he turned around to face the demons, regarding them like a hawk would a mouse that it was planning to rip apart. Cole almost felt sorry for the demons.

"If you were effective," the Source said, slowly, drawing each word out, "then the traitor's guts would be spilling out onto the floor. If you were effective," he added, spitting out the world like it was a curse, "I would have the rogue witch bound and gagged at my feet."

"With all due respect, my liege," the second demon stammered, and the Source's gaze sharpened as he turned on him.

"Since I see neither a witch, nor a dead traitor," he growled, stalking closer and closer to the demon while his partners backed slowly away, fear written plainly on their faces, "then it seems very clear to me that you were not effective."

The last word, so quiet that Cole could barely hear him, was punctuated by a fireball that burst from the Source's hands, engulfing the demon. The demon died with a short, high-pitched scream, leaving only ashes in his wake. Calmly, the Source turned to the other two demons.

"Do either of you want to attempt to explain why you have failed me?" he asked, softly, and both demons were practically shaking by now.

"We – we have almost broken the traitor," the third demon finally managed to stammer out, forcing himself to meet the Source's gaze.

"Almost is not good enough," the Source growled, and both demons nodded, quickly, although what they were agreeing with, Cole had no idea.

Then, as the Source turned back around to face him, Cole steeled his expression into something resembling defiance. Fixing an insolent smirk on his face, he waited as the older demon stalked back over to him, acting as though he had nothing better to do than to be tied up and tortured all day.

"You will tell me everything, in the end," the Source snapped at him, and Cole let his smirk get bigger.

"When the sun shines in Hell," he retorted, his head snapping violently to the side as the Source slammed his hand into his face, again.

"How long do you think your little witch can survive down here, anyway?" the Source asked him, tauntingly. "Hunted by every demon under my command, burdened by the dying Whitelighter – she'll be in my clutches soon enough."

"And how many of those demons have come back?" Cole asked, challengingly, sparking an infuriated growl from the older demon. "She can see the future. You really think she can't see your demons coming?"

From the silence that met his comment, Cole was certain that he'd hit a nerve. He knew that Phoebe was more than capable of taking care of herself, and protecting Leo in the process. And if she vanquished some demons along the way, all the better.

The Source was silent for so long that Cole was starting to get worried. Whatever the other demon had planned for him, he was sure that it involved a lot of pain in his future. But, then, someone else entered the cavern, and the Source turned to deal with the new interruption.

A new demon entered the cavern, a furious look on his face. He stormed over to the Source, clearly about to say something, but then he seemed to remember where he was, because he took a deep breath to calm himself down before he spoke.

"You said that there were only two Charmed Ones," he said, a slightly accusing tone in his voice that he tried to hide behind respectful deference.

"The third witch is trapped down here in the Underworld," the Source said, a bored tone in his voice. "There are only two witches to be a problem to you."

"There were three witches in that church," the demon retorted, angrily, but he quickly cooled off as the Source turned to look at him. "Malik is dead," the demon continued in a much calmer tone.

"Vanquished by the witches?" the Source asked, but a new voice spoke up before the demon could answer.

"By me and my sisters," a cool, female voice said.

To Cole's surprise, a Fury was striding toward the Source, a smug smirk on her face. As she passed the lesser demons, they both collapsed in her wake, hands flying to cover their ears as they listened to screams that only they could hear. And as she got closer, Cole could hear an endless screaming start up inside his own head, his earlier agony flaring up again.

But, the Source was unaffected by the Fury's power, and he met her unblinking gaze without flinching.

"We vanquished your little underling," the Fury continued, smugly. "But your other idiot was right; there were three witches there. One of them even killed my sister."

"There were three witches when Shax was vanquished," one of the demons offered, fighting through his pain enough to speak.

"She was killed by Shax," the Source retorted, but the Fury just laughed.

"Little witch looked lively enough to me," she said, smirking. "Of course, she won't be for long, not after I rip out her murdering heart. Then you'll only have two witches to worry about, again."

"And why would you want to help me?" the Source asked, suspicion plain in his voice.

Cole didn't blame him. Furies had never worked with demons, preferring to hunt them down. For one to offer her services, now, made no sense. But, if the Fury was only offering as part of some plan to try and vanquish the Source, Cole was all for it. Even if she did make his head want to explode.

"I already told you," the Fury answered. "I want revenge. Dirae tried to convert the witch, but she resisted the change and set my sister on fire. And I want the witch's heart."

"You breathed on the witch?" the Source asked, his interest seemingly piqued, but the Fury just shrugged.

"It didn't take," she retorted.

"But, it will in time," the Source pointed out. "I want you to use the witch."

"Use her for what?" the Fury demanded, and now she sounded suspicious.

"Use her to get to the other witches," the Source told the Fury. "You will destroy all three of them, and I will no longer have to worry about the Charmed Ones."

"And what do I get for serving your interests?" the Fury asked, a calculating tone in her voice. "Erinyes and I are the one risking our necks, not you."

"You get your revenge," the Source pointed out. Then, looking around the cavern, he gestured carelessly in Cole's direction. "And you can have him, as well. Without the Charmed Ones to worry about, I'll no longer have any use for him."

"Deal," the Fury said, her eyes lighting up with a predatory gleam as she circled Cole.

She traced her talons lightly over his chest, drawing blood while he reeled in agony from her presence.

"Oh, we're going to have fun with you," she purred, and then she smoked out.

Once she was gone, the Source turned to the fourth demon.

"If the Furies fail, kill them," he said, quietly. "And then kill the witches."

"Yes, my liege," the demon said, bowing low before he shimmered away.

Then, the Source turned his attention on Cole, who was really hoping that his presence had been forgotten.

"And, as for you, traitor," the Source said, and then Cole lost track of the rest of what was being said in the agony that engulfed him.


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's Note: **Thank you so much to everyone who's been reading and reviewing.

**Chapter Fourteen**

Entering South Bay Social Services, Henry made an immediate beeline for Paige's desk. He couldn't help the goofy grin that lit up his face when she glanced up at him, and after a few seconds, she returned his greeting with a weak smile of her own.

"Hey," she said, quietly, as he stopped beside her desk. "What are you doing here, Henry?"

"Well, I figured that you probably haven't eaten, yet," he told her. "So, I came by to see if you wanted to go get some lunch."

"You came all this way to see if I was hungry?" Paige asked, in disbelief.

At the confusion in her voice, Henry was reminded, forcibly, that he and Paige weren't married, any more. He wasn't even sure how she really felt about him, other than regarding him as a neighbor and a burgeoning friend. The thought of Paige not being in love with him in this time suddenly made him very uneasy.

"Well, actually, I just wanted an excuse to see you, again," he admitted, waiting for Paige's reaction.

To his happy surprise, she actually smiled at that, a genuine expression that lit up her face.

"You did?" she asked, and her smile got wider when he nodded. "I missed you this morning when Tyler said that you had to run into work early," she continued, and then the smile abruptly dropped from her face.

"What's wrong?" Henry asked, concerned by her sudden change in mood.

"It's Tyler," Paige told him, with a quiet sigh. "His birth parents are back in the picture."

"And, this is bad?" Henry guessed, and Paige's eyes filled with tears as she nodded in confirmation.

"They're taking him away," she said, her voice choked with emotion, and the unexpected words were like a blow to the stomach.

He'd gotten close to the kid in the few days that he'd known him, and even more, he'd seen how much Paige had cared for Tyler. And how much Tyler had cared for her. And he could see how much just admitting any of this was hurting Paige.

"I'm so sorry," he said, gently, and Paige nodded.

"It's just so frustrating," she told him, anger coloring her voice. "I don't understand how these people could be absent for so much of his life, and then just want to waltz right in like they have any rights to him."

"Well, they are his parents," Henry hedged, hating himself for having to play the devil's advocate for something that had her so upset, but needing to point it out, anyway.

Paige glared at him, and for a moment he wondered if she was going to yell at him. But, then she took a deep breath, visibly calming herself down before she spoke.

"I know they're his parents," she said, shaking her head in frustration. "And, of course, they have rights to him. It's just – I want to hate these people," she told him.

"Go right ahead," Henry told her. "In fact, I think I'll even join you in hating them. We'll beat the Christmas rush."

Paige quirked the corners of her lips in a tiny grin at his words, and she grabbed her coat off the back of her chair as she stood up.

"I believe you said something about lunch?" she asked, and Henry offered her his elbow with a gallant bow.

"This way, my lady," he started, but then he trailed off at the sight of Paige's boss walking toward them.

"Looks like lunch might be delayed," Paige said, with a sigh, freeing her hand from the crook of his elbow. "Did you need something, Mr. Cowan?"

"Just wanted to see how you were doing," the older man said, and Henry was impressed by the obvious concern in his voice.

"I'll be doing better if you tell me that our appeal against Tyler's parents is getting somewhere with the juvenile judge," Paige told him, but the older man sighed.

"The judge is holding firm to his decision," Cowan told her. "Tyler is to remain with his biological parents."

"Great," Paige said, a tight tone in her voice. "I hate this," she continued, her hands clenching into fists. "I promised him that I'd do everything I could."

"And you did," Cowan reassured her, while she worked to keep her temper under control. "This is just something that is out of our hands, now."

When Paige just shook her head, clearly not convinced by his words, the older man switched tacks. "Take the rest of the day," he offered. "Come back tomorrow when you've had some time to rest, all right?"

"Yeah," Paige said, quietly, hugging her coat to her chest as she offered the older man a weak smile. "Thanks, Mr. Cowan."

"Get out of here before I change my mind," her boss said, gruffly, and Henry took the opportunity to gently steer Paige out of the office.

"Do you want to take separate cars and just meet somewhere for lunch?" Henry asked, fully expecting Paige to turn him down, altogether.

"Can we just walk?" she asked, instead. "I just – my head is spinning, and I don't know what to think-"

"Yeah, we can walk," Henry said, gently, cutting off her rambling. "If you want to talk about anything-"

"Thanks," Paige said, softly, but she was quiet for the first few minutes as they started walking down the sidewalk.

As they started walking, Henry instinctively wrapped an arm around her waist before he even realized what he was doing, and then he almost kicked himself for the overly-intimate gesture. But, to his surprise, Paige just fitted herself against his side while they walked, matching her pace with his.

"I told Tyler that he could stay with me," she said, softly, after a few minutes of silence. "I told him that he had a home with me, that I wanted him."

"I'm sure he knows that," Henry told her, not sure what else to say.

"It's just so frustrating, you know?" Paige asked, clearly not expecting a response. "I mean, the one defense we have at Social Services against deadbeat parents is that it takes forever to do anything. There's so much red tape involved in these kinds of cases that it can take months for anything to get through the courts."

"But?" Henry prompted, when Paige fell silent, again.

"But, these people managed to get everything rushed through in less than a day," Paige told him. "And that's not possible."

"Then, how did they do it?" Henry asked, even though he already had an idea in mind. And he didn't know what it said about him that his first thought was that magic was involved, somehow.

"I don't know," Paige said, angrily, her hands clenching into fists.

Then, a second later, Henry jumped away from her as a shock ran through his body, making him feel like he'd just been electrocuted. The feeling faded as he broke contact with her, but there was a ringing in his head and the hair along his arms was standing on end. And when he reached up gingerly to feel the top of his head, he could feel his hair sticking straight up.

"What the hell?" he gasped, when he could breathe, again.

"Oh my god, are you okay?" Paige demanded, reaching out to him.

Another shock jolted through him when her hands touched his arms, and she jerked her hands away, quickly.

"Oh, god, I'm so sorry," she said, apologetically, carefully not touching him. "I guess I don't have that one under control, yet."

"Under control?" Henry echoed, feeling like he was several steps behind and struggling to catch up. "Wait a minute," he said, when he got what Paige was saying, "you electrocuted me?"

"I'm really sorry," Paige said, a miserable expression on her face. "I guess this happens when I'm upset, or something. I had to replace my cell phone, earlier."

As he tried to digest what she was saying, Henry took a closer look at Paige, his eyes widening when he saw the little sparks of lightning that were running through her hair and over the surface of her skin.

"That's new," he managed, and she gave him a weak smile.

"It all started happening last night," she said, clearly anxious to see his reaction. "I made it rain, this morning, and I created wind and fire earlier this afternoon."

"And I thought orbing was cool," Henry muttered, getting a curious look from Paige. "Nothing," he told her, quickly, although he was starting to wonder how long he could manage to keep lying to her about everything.

"You're not freaked out?" Paige asked, cautiously, and Henry shook his head.

"No way," he reassured her. "This is really cool. So long as you stop electrocuting me, I mean."

"I'll try," Paige said, smiling at him.

Then, her cell phone rang, and she pulled it out of her purse, checking the display, automatically.

"At least I didn't fry this one," she said, wryly, as she answered it. "Hello?"

Then, her whole demeanor changed, drawing in a sharp breath as she listened to the voice on the other end of the line.

"Tyler?" she asked, incredulously.

"Put him on speakerphone," Henry told her, abruptly, getting a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach at the sound of her voice.

Paige hit a button on her cell phone, holding it out so that he could hear Tyler.

"Tyler, what's wrong?" she asked, and Henry found himself waiting anxiously for the boy's reply.

The line was ominously silent for a few seconds, and then when Tyler finally spoke, his voice was slurred, his words slow and awkward.

"I don't feel good," he mumbled, incoherently. "Paige, I'm scared. That woman had a knife."

Beside him, Paige's breath hitched at his words, but she took a deep breath struggling to keep calm.

"Tyler, buddy, where are you?" she asked, and Henry could hear a quiver of fear in her voice.

"Don't know," Tyler said. "I hear water."

"That could be anywhere," Henry said, quietly, frustrated. "Tyler," he added, pitching his voice so that the boy could hear him. "What do you see around you?"

"It's dark," Tyler said, his voice growing quieter by the second. "I'm cold."

"Tyler, baby, stay with us," Paige interjected, abruptly, her voice tight with tension. "Can you tell us where you are?"

"I think I'm-" Tyler started, and then his voice cut off, suddenly, leaving only dead air over the phone.

"Tyler," Paige snapped, urgently, but there was no answer. "Tyler!"

"Damn it!" Henry swore, furiously, when the phone remained silent.

Paige, meanwhile, was dialing a new number on her phone, her hands shaking as she pressed the buttons. Henry could hear the other phone ringing, and Paige was staring desperately at her phone.

"Come on," she muttered, trying to will the other person into answering the phone. "Please pick up the phone."

But, her call switched over into voicemail, and Paige's voice was shaking with suppressed emotion as she left her message.

"Piper, it's Paige," she started, and Henry had a moment of surprise when he realized that Paige must have met her sisters. "My son – Tyler – he's in trouble, and I need your help. Please call me as soon as you get this. Please."

Henry could feel his heart clenching at the heartbroken sound of her voice. When she hung up her phone and looked at him, there was a despairing look in her eyes.

"Come on," Henry said, abruptly, grabbing her elbow and starting to steer her back down the sidewalk. "We'll talk to the police, or something. We'll find Tyler, don't worry."

"We can help you find your son," a new voice spoke up, and they whirled around to see a pair of scantily-dressed women walking toward them.

"You," Paige snarled, her hands curling into fists, electricity sparking along her hands. "What are you doing here?"

"Do we really want to recruit her?" one of the demons asked, a bored tone in her voice as she looked Paige over. "She's such a good, little _witch_."

The last word was spit out like a curse, and Henry's hand instinctively went to the gun in his shoulder holster, reacting to the hate he heard in the demon's voice.

"Don't make me laugh, mortal," the other demon scoffed. "Do you really think your weapons can hurt us?"

"Try me," Henry challenged, but Paige stepped between him and the demon, her hands still throwing off sparks.

"Don't touch him," she snapped, furiously, and Henry watched in amazement as her hands uncurled, revealing long, wickedly-sharp talons instead of fingernails.

"Paige," he said, quietly, and when she looked back at him, for a second, a completely alien expression was written on her face.

Then, her expression cleared and she visibly shuddered, taking a shaky breath.

"I can't stop it," she whispered, clearly scared. "Henry, what's happening to me?"

"Fight, Paige," he encouraged her, but one of the demons laughed.

"You can't fight us," she purred, smirking at Paige when she whirled around to confront the demons, again. "Don't even try."

"You want to find your son, don't you?" the second demon asked, also circling Paige, a predatory gleam in her eyes. "Your little boy, helpless in the grip of those who want only to hurt him."

"Come with us," the first demon said, as Paige tried to resist. "We'll help you hunt down your evil."

"Don't listen to them," Henry entreated, but any further words were cut off by the first demon, who backhanded him hard enough to send him flying.

He slammed, hard, into the ground, and Paige cried out as she tried to get to him. But, the demons clamped down on her arms, leaning in close and whispering things he couldn't hear. Then, to Henry's horror, all three of them disappeared in clouds of smoke, leaving him alone on the sidewalk.


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's Notes: **Thanks so much to everyone who's been reading and reviewing.

**Chapter Fifteen**

"Tell me you found something."

Pacing the length of the attic, Piper glanced over at Prue, who was bent over the map of San Francisco, scrying crystal clenched in her fist. Even from where she was, she could see the drops of blood that spotted the crystal's quartz surface courtesy of both her and Prue, after they'd cut their fingers on a knife to add their blood to the scrying crystal.

"Nothing," Prue practically growled, glaring at the crystal that was moving restlessly over the surface of the map. "Paige still isn't answering her phone?"

"It just keeps going to voicemail," Piper told her, snapping her phone shut in frustration as she, yet again, got the cool, computerized voice telling her to leave a message after the tone. "Damn it," she growled, throwing her phone onto the couch, where it landed on their old pink baby blanket that Paige had left in the church. "Why can't we find her?"

"We will," Prue said, her voice tight with tension. "What did Paige's message say, again?"

"Just that her son was in trouble, and she needed our help," Piper answered. "But, we can't do that if we can't even track her down!"

As if in response to her words, the crystal suddenly dropped onto the map, but Prue shook her head before Piper could get excited.

"It landed here at the house," she said, lifting the crystal and setting it swinging, again, across the map.

"That's the third time that's happened," Piper said, frustrated. "What's the use of being witches if we can't find our sister when she needs us?"

Before Prue could reply, the attic lit up with a brilliant glow as someone orbed in. For a second, her heart leapt, thinking that it was Leo, but then the orbs coalesced into Andy, and she came crashing back down to Earth. Trying not to show how disappointed she was, Piper greeted the Whitelighter with a weak smile.

"Anything?" she asked, hopefully, and found herself being disappointed, again, when he shook his head, regretfully.

"Paige is too new of a witch for the Elders to locate," he told them.

"Can't you sense her like you can with us?" Prue asked, looking up from her scrying.

"She hasn't been formally assigned as one of my charges," Andy answered. "And, I don't have any other kind of connection to her, so there's really no way for me to find her."

"Great," Prue grumbled. "So, we're back where we started. With nothing to go on."

When the pages of the Book started flipping, rapidly, the three of them looked over at the ancient tome in surprise.

"You think sometimes that Grams waits for the most dramatic moment possible to help us?" Piper asked, dryly, as they went over to the pedestal holding the Book.

"Wouldn't surprise me," Prue retorted, and then she looked down at the Book in surprise. "We're back on the Furies? Didn't we already deal with them?"

"Technically, we only vanquished one Fury," Piper reminded her.

"Yeah, but do you really think the other two are back for a rematch?" Prue asked, earning a half shrug from her sister.

Then, Piper glanced down at the entry in the Book, and her eyebrows flew up in shock as she read.

"Prue," she asked, curiously, "did you read the entire entry?"

"I skimmed it," Prue admitted. "Just enough to get what we needed for the vanquishing potion. Why?"

"To paraphrase," Piper told her, "When a good witch gets smoked by a Fury, the smoke seeks out a portal of unexpressed rage in the witch, eventually turning them into a Fury."

"Paige is turning into a Fury?" Prue echoed, incredulously.

"So it would seem," came Piper's answer. "But, what do you think her 'unexpressed rage' is about?"

"Why don't you start with the people who took her son away?" a new voice spoke up, and they looked toward the attic door to see a man leaning wearily against the door frame. It was the same man who'd been with future-Paige when she'd vanquished Shax, the one who'd been taken away by the Elders.

"Your door was open," he said, by way of explanation, as he walked into the attic. "I'm Henry Mitchell, by the way."

"You-" Piper started to say, but then she trailed off, not sure how to continue that sentence.

Luckily, Henry took pity on her confusion.

"I know that Paige is a witch," he said, stopping in front of the pedestal that held the Book. "I know that you two, and Phoebe, are her sisters, and that you all have magical powers and you fight demons. Are we all caught up, now?"

"Very efficient," Prue remarked to no one, spinning the pedestal around so that Henry could see the Book. "Here's what we know so far."

"Those are the demons," Henry said, immediately, not even bothering to read the entry. "They attacked us right after we found out that Tyler was in trouble."

"You didn't get breathed on, did you?" Piper asked, immediately alarmed, but Henry shook his head.

"It was weird," he told them. "It was like the demons were trying to recruit Paige. And then she grew these really long talons and disappeared with them."

"She's already started turning into a Fury," Andy said, a grave tone in his voice, and Piper shot him an annoyed look.

"Is stating the obvious something they teach you in Whitelighter school?" she muttered. Turning her attention back to Henry, she added, "Is there anything else you can tell us?"

"Not much," Henry said, clearly frustrated. "I don't even know where Tyler is. They drugged him, or something, and he was completely out of it when he called Paige."

"Do you have anything of Paige's?" Prue pressed. "Keys, wallet, something we can use to scry with?"

"How about a cell phone?" Henry asked, digging into his jacket pocket and coming up with the small phone.

"Worth a shot," Prue answered, taking the phone and bending over the map, again.

The attic was completely silent as she scryed for Paige, the tension so thick that it could have been cut with a knife. Piper had to restrain herself from looking over Prue's shoulder, knowing that it wouldn't help the process. Beside her, Henry was rigid as he stared at the Book, practically burning holes in the pages with his gaze.

Then, a grin spread across Prue's face as the crystal slammed down onto the map.

"Let's go," Piper said, as Prue committed the address to memory. "Is the Fury vanquishing potion still in the kitchen?"

"On the stove," Prue answered, and then she and Piper both stopped in surprise, when they realized that Henry had followed them out of the attic.

"I'm coming with you," the man said, shortly, before either of them could say anything.

"This is going to be dangerous," Prue interjected, but Henry had a determined look on his face.

"I'm not going to just sit here and do nothing while the woman I love is in danger," he said, quietly. "I'm coming with you."

"Fine," Piper said, resolving the issue before Prue could say anything else. "We don't have time to argue about this. Let's just get going."

Prue detoured to the kitchen to get the vanquishing potion while Piper went out and started the car. Then, they drove to the spot marked on the map, the car filled with tense silence. The address turned out to be an imposing-looking mansion hidden behind an iron gate. A pair of burly men was patrolling the area in front of the front gate, most likely there to provide security.

"What the hell is this place?" Prue demanded, taking in the scene.

"Never mind that," Piper told her. "How are we supposed to get in?"

"Can't you just blow them up?" Henry asked, leaning forward from where he was sitting in the back seat, and Piper had to wonder just what the man knew about them and their powers.

"We don't even know those are demons," Piper argued, but then she trailed off when a third man shimmered in front of the main gate.

The man had an unconscious girl slung over his shoulder in a fireman's carry. He said a few, short words to the guards at the gate, and then one of the guards waved a hand at the gate, a shimmer of power running across the metal as the gate swung open.

"Need to see anything else?" Henry asked, dryly. "Besides, if you have any doubts, you can still just freeze them, instead."

"My powers aren't exactly under control at the moment," she admitted, even as she wondered just how much the mortal knew about them and their powers. "I'm sort of freezing and exploding at random."

"We'll take what we can get," Henry insisted. "Paige and Tyler are in trouble, and we have to get in there."

"You're going to have to be pretty fast," Prue warned her, and Piper shrugged.

"If I can freeze bullets, I think I can be faster than a couple of demons," she said. "You two stay here, and wait for my signal."

Getting out of the car, she started across the street, keeping a careful eye on the demons. They hadn't noticed her at first, being too busy talking to each other, but then one of them spotted her when she was just within range. The demon who'd spotted her threw an energy ball at her, clearly choosing to preserve their secret over any need for discretion, and Piper swore as she had to dive out of the way.

Taking refuge behind a low wall nearby, Piper took a second to catch her breath. Then, she popped up from behind the wall and flung her hands out, hoping for the best. One of the demons froze in mid-stride, the beginnings of an energy ball just leaving the tips of his fingers, but to her dismay, the other demon was still moving around.

She tried to blow this one up, but the demon dodged the blow, advancing on her with a cruel grin on his face. Then, the demon stumbled, thrown off his feet by a blow that came from behind. While he was down, she flicked her hands out at him, again, and this time the demon exploded in a shower of pieces.

Looking up, she saw Prue and Henry standing behind the demon. Henry was holstering his service revolver, and when he saw her looking at him, he shrugged, nonchalantly.

"Maybe bullets can't kill demons," he told her, "but they can sure hurt like hell."

"Aren't you worried about someone hearing you?" Piper asked, as the three of them walked toward the gate.

"They're secluded enough that they've got demons moving around in plain sight," Henry pointed out. "Gunshots probably aren't going to draw a whole lot of attention."

"It's kind of scary how much you've thought this out," Prue told him.

"Fighting demons was a big part of Paige's life," Henry said, quietly. "And I didn't want to be a liability."

"You really love her, don't you?" Piper asked, and Henry nodded, wordlessly.

"She was my life," he said, with a wistful smile on his face. "And, I hope she will be, again."

Reaching out, he grabbed the gate and gave it an experimental shove, and then he was thrown backward as a shock jolted through his body. Groaning, Henry picked himself up off the ground, accepting the hand that Piper held out to pull him to his feet.

"Maybe that wasn't the smartest move," he admitted.

"You think?" Prue retorted, dryly.

Turning her attention to the gate, the eldest witch flung her hands out, throwing her telekinetic power at the metal. The spells surrounding the gate flared, brilliantly, as her power hit it, and then the metal bowed inward. Another push warped the metal even more, and then Prue stepped aside, gesturing toward the gate.

"Your turn," she told Piper, who threw a blast of explosive energy at the gate.

Her power, combined with the effects of Prue's, succeeded in blowing the gates inward, and the three of them marched through the opening. The demon guard was still frozen behind them, and they hurried to get out of his line of sight when he inevitably unfroze.

Unlike the heavily-guarded gate, the front door was wide open – and suspiciously demon-free. They were able to walk into the mansion without anyone noticing them, and Piper was starting to get worried.

"Does this feel like a trap to anyone else?" she asked, in an undertone, while they slunk along the main hallway, keeping a careful eye out for demons.

"What, you think they knew we were coming?" Prue asked.

"I'm just saying," Piper replied, "this is pretty quiet. Where are all the demons?"

The sound of voices up ahead had them pausing, and then the three of them snuck ahead to the open door of an office where the voices were coming from. Piper took a chance and peeked inside, seeing the demon from before standing in the middle of the office.

The girl that he'd been carrying over his shoulder was sprawled on the floor at his feet. She was still unconscious, and a strange white pallor covered her skin. After a second, Piper realized that the girl was covered in a coating of ice; she'd been frozen alive.

Her demonic captor was talking to another man, this one sitting behind the desk, regarding the unconscious girl with an almost predatory gleam in his eyes.

"You're certain of her power?" he finally asked, turning his attention to the demon.

"I saw it, myself," the demon answered, immediately. "She went completely intangible; energy balls didn't even touch her."

"But, can she extend that power to others?" the man pressed, insistently.

"Oh, yeah," the demon told him. "She grabbed some kid that Aeros was aiming at and protected him with it. The only way we even knocked her out was by surprising her. Otherwise, we never would have caught her."

"Take her downstairs," the man ordered, sitting down at his desk. "And make sure you put one of the dampening collars on her. I don't want her using her power to escape."

With a quick nod, the demon picked the girl up and shimmered out of the room, leaving the man alone. Piper was about to try and freeze the man when a flickering out of the corner of her eye caught her attention, and she ducked back out of the way just in time to avoid a new demon that shimmered into the office.

"What is it now?" the man asked, a bored tone in his voice.

"It's the witch," the demon gasped out, clearly winded, and Piper immediately knew that he was talking about Paige. "She's still resisting."

"She's just one witch," the man said, frustrated, while Piper silently cheered for her younger sister. "I would have expected you to have taken care of the situation by now."

"She's really strong," the demon protested. "We can't even get near the boy."

The man sighed, rubbing at his temples as though he was staving off a headache.

"I don't care how you do it," he said, slowly, "but I want that Firestarter. And then kill that damn witch!"


	16. Chapter 16

**Author's Note: **Thanks so much to everyone who's read and reviewed. You guys are great.

**Chapter Sixteen**

Paige was certain that she'd never been more scared in her life.

She remembered being confronted in the park by the Furies, seeing them attack Henry. She remembered trying to get to him, but something had been holding her back. Then, everything had disappeared in a red haze, and the next thing she knew, they were somewhere else, standing in the middle of a strange hallway.

The next thing she clearly remembered was seeing Tyler lying unconscious on the floor of an office, a man standing over the boy, with ice coming out of his hands to cover Tyler's body. She'd screamed, somehow throwing the demon across the room, although she didn't know if that was due to her witch powers, or if it was something that the Furies had done to her.

And then, when she'd reached Tyler's side, the world had whited out in front of her eyes, and when she could see again, she was, once again, somewhere else. She hadn't seen the Furies that had brought her to wherever she was, and she and Tyler were alone in the new room.

She'd tried, desperately, to wake Tyler up, but the boy had been completely unresponsive. And then a group of demons had burst into the room, coming straight at them, and she'd panicked. Before she knew what was happening, a maelstrom of fire had roared to life, surrounding her and Tyler and cutting them off from the demons.

At first, the unexpected fire barrier had been a godsend, shielding them from the demons' attacks. Most of the energy balls had simply bounced off the fury of the fire that surrounded them, and the rest were simply absorbed by the maelstrom, the energy of the attacks adding fuel to the fire and making it even more intense.

But, the fire that had saved them was just as quickly turning against them. The intense heat was searing her skin, and she had burns on her arms from where she'd lost her tightly-leashed control over the fiery monstrosity and had gotten singed when it got too close. And the fire needed more energy than could be absorbed from the demons' attacks, which meant that it was sucking oxygen out of the surrounding area.

And it was starting to get difficult to breathe.

Paige flinched as another energy ball hit the fiery wall in front of her, making the barrier flicker where the energy ball had struck. It was taking more and more of her power and concentration to keep the fire alive, the energy fluctuating wildly every time her concentration wavered for even a second. She knew the barrier was going to fall, she just hoped that it held out long enough for help to arrive.

In her arms, Tyler stirred, suddenly, letting out a gasping breath. The ice that had coated his body had melted under the heat of the fire she'd accidentally conjured, and she sighed in relief as his eyes fluttered open, slowly, and he stared at her in confusion.

"Paige?" he asked, his voice slurred and heavy. "What happened?"

"That's a really long story, kiddo," she told him, hugging him closer to her in relief. "How are you feeling?"

"My head still hurts," Tyler told her, a dazed look still on his face. "And I'm really cold."

"You'll warm up," Paige reassured him, casting an uneasy glance at the fire that surrounded them.

Tyler tried to say something else, but he was overwhelmed by a sudden coughing fit and he clung to Paige until it passed, collapsing weakly against her when he'd finally stopped coughing. His breathing was labored and his skin was ashen. He didn't look good, and Paige felt her fear ratchet up a notch.

"What's wrong with your face?" Tyler managed to ask, once he finally got his breath back.

He reached a shaky hand toward her cheek, where a series of demonic sigils were slowly appearing on her skin. Paige had seen them etched on her arms and spreading down to the backs of her hands, darkening every time her tenuous control slipped, releasing for even a second the Fury that raged within.

That was the other reason she was so scared. She could still feel the Fury deep inside, trying to escape, and she was terrified of what was going to happen if, or rather when, she lost control. Part of her wanted to let go, to just let the Fury take over and take her revenge on the demons on the other side of the fire. But, she reined in the demon as best she could, throttling back the impulse to go out and fight.

Sure, she could have taken one or two demons out, if she let the Fury take over and consume her, but she couldn't possibly take on them all. Plus, trying to fight the demons would mean letting go of the fire barrier, which would leave Tyler unprotected, and she couldn't risk it. Much as she hated it, her only option was to stay right where she was and hope that help showed up, soon.

Tyler coughed, again, suddenly, and the sound ripped through the air like a gunshot. A few seconds later, the fire around them suddenly flared brighter, and Paige wondered if the boy was losing control of his powers like she was.

_'If the demons don't kill us, the fire will,'_ she thought, with a sudden clarity. _'We're going to suffocate, or burn alive, and there's nothing I can do to stop it.'_

Another energy ball hit the barrier from the outside, the barrier flickering dangerously from the impact. Paige clenched her fists in anger, and in response, the fire suddenly roared even brighter. As the fire flared even bigger, she gasped as the air inside the barrier was practically sucked away.

In her arms, Tyler was choking, struggling to breathe. Spots were swimming in front of Paige's eyes, and she stared at the out-of-control fire in growing horror.

"Stop," she gasped out, barely aware that she was speaking out loud. "Please stop."

But, the fire ignored her, spreading relentlessly outward. Paige heard a scream as a demon was consumed by the fire, and then the sound of frantic footsteps as everyone else tried to get out of the way.

Paige wasn't about to mourn the demon, not when he'd been trying to kill her for the past half hour, but she knew she had to stop the fire. She couldn't let it get any further out of her control, couldn't let it hurt an innocent person.

"I made you," she gritted out, staring up at the fire in furious defiance as she clamped down on the surge of power she could feel raging from the fire. "You will listen to me!"

The fire wavered, but stopped its forward movement, halted for the moment. Paige let out a quiet sigh of relief, but she didn't dare let up on her concentration, not even for a second. The demons, sensing that they had the advantage, again, starting attacking the barrier. Paige could feel each blow like it had hit her, rather than the barrier, and her concentration wavered, the fire creeping forward again before she leashed it.

"Stop that," she growled, and the fire flickered as if in response to her words.

Another volley of energy balls hit the barrier and she struggled to hold the fire in place. It wanted to be let go, wanted to be out of control, and it was getting harder and harder to hold onto.

"Give up, witch!" a voice yelled from outside the barrier. "Give up, and we'll kill you quickly!"

"Go to hell," Paige spat, hacking coughs racking her body as she spoke.

The edges of her vision were growing dark, and it was getting harder to breathe. In her arms, Tyler had passed out, again, slumping heavy against her chest, his own breathing ragged and heavily labored.

"Help," Paige begged, quietly, not sure who she was talking to.

The fire flickered, again, as the demons kept up the attack, and then, to her horror, the fire died. The barrier vanished as quickly as it appeared, and Paige stared in shock at the demons standing a short distance away.

The demons recovered their composure first, and they advanced on her, energy balls held at the ready. Paige tried, desperately, to summon the fire, again, but she was tapped out. Her powers were exhausted, and she could barely manage a few sparks of lightning from her fingers.

"Die, witch," one of the demons growled, and Paige cringed for the blow she knew was coming.

Then, as the energy balls got close enough to singe the hair on her arms, the world disappeared in front of her eyes in a swirl of bright, white lights. When she could see again, she and Tyler were on the opposite side of the room, behind the startled demons. Paige tried to stand, pulling Tyler with her, but she collapsed before she'd made it more than a few steps.

The demons, undeterred by this new development, simply turned and stalked toward her again. The one in the lead threw the energy ball in his hands, and Paige threw herself over Tyler to shield him. The energy ball grazed her back before hitting the wall behind her, leaving a streak of agony in its wake. Paige cried out, instinctively, and the demon who'd hit her grinned, a cruel expression on his face.

The demons continued their slow, tortuous way toward her, and they were just playing with her, now. Paige felt like a mouse being stalked by a particularly vicious cat. She hated that feeling. She could feel the fury welling up inside her, and for once, she didn't want to try and rein it in. She wanted to let the demon out, let the monster rage at her attackers.

"Look at her," one of the demons taunted, mockingly. "She's not so tough. She doesn't even try to fight."

"You want a fight?" Paige asked, quietly, pushing Tyler behind her to keep him out of the way. "You've got it."

Letting out a slow breath, she let go of the tight leash she had over the Fury, feeling the rage blaze through her like a firestorm. A slow smile curved over her lips as she stood and confronted the demons, uncurling her clenched fists to reveal long talons at the end of her fingers. A red haze filled her vision and, this time, she didn't try to hide from it. Instead, she embraced the feelings coursing through her, let them fill her with a new strength.

"Come and get me," she challenged, softly, and the first demon leapt at her…


	17. Chapter 17

**Author's Notes: **Thanks so much to everyone who's been reading and reviewing.

**Chapter Seventeen**

Phoebe anxiously paced the confines of the cavern, glancing at her watch with each circuit. Cole had been gone for nearly three hours,, now, and what had started out as a simple foray to get information had obviously gone very, very wrong.

She wanted to go after him, to rescue him if he was in any sort of trouble, but she couldn't just leave. Not when she had Leo to think about. The Whitelighter was still badly injured and he was in no shape to protect himself if she left. But, if Cole had been captured, then her and Leo's safety was already at stake.

Phoebe groaned, dropping her head into her hands.

"Someone tell me what to do," she muttered, and as if in answer, Leo started coughing.

She hurried to his side, helping her brother-in-law sit up while he struggled to breathe. Phoebe watched helplessly as he fought for breath, and finally his breathing eased and he leaned back against her, his eyes closing with exhaustion.

"Sorry," he whispered, weakly, but Phoebe took solace from the fact that he was even talking.

When they'd first rescued the Whitelighter, Leo hadn't even been able to open his eyes. But, now he'd healed enough to stay awake most of the time, and even talk, even though the effort clearly wore him out every time.

"Don't worry about it, sweetie," she murmured, quietly, the endearment coming easily to her as she helped Leo lie back down. "With the soundproofing spell I managed to lay over this place, no one can hear us, anyway. It's the only way we're safe, here."

"Your magic is getting stronger down here by the day," Leo commented, his eyes still closed, although he turned his head in her direction.

"Yeah," Phoebe agreed. "I don't know whether that's a good thing or a bad thing," she joked, weakly, and Leo reached out blindly to grab her hand and squeeze it.

"We're going to get out of here," he rasped, obviously hearing the worry in her voice.

"Right," Phoebe muttered. "Cole is missing, you can't orb, and the magic to magic spell only works on the person who casts it, which would leave you two stranded down here. Of course we're going to get out of here. How could I possibly think otherwise?"

Her voice had risen to a practically-hysterical pitch by the end, and she found herself even more grateful for the soundproofing spell.

"Take my powers," Leo told her, suddenly, and she looked over at him in shock.

"What?" she demanded, in disbelief.

"Use the power switching spell," Leo continued, opening his eyes slowly to look at her. "Swap our powers, and use my sensing powers to find Cole. Then, you can orb all of us out of here."

"No way," Phoebe said, immediately vetoing the idea. "Not a chance. I'm not swapping our powers and leaving you defenseless."

"I'll have your power of premonition," Leo argued, weakly.

"So, you'll be able to see the demons coming before they kill you," Phoebe retorted, glaring at him. "Oh, and then, with levitation, you'll be able to float up to the ceiling to make a more attractive target for their energy balls."

Leo sighed, picking up on the sarcasm in her voice.

"Phoebe," he protested, but she cut him off, abruptly.

"No. Freaking. Way," she repeated, enunciating each word clearly.

"There's no other choice," Leo argued.

"There's always another choice," Phoebe told him. "We'll think of another plan."

Despite her confident words, however, nothing was coming to mind. She had no idea how to find Cole, or even rescue him when she did. She'd tried all manner of summoning spells, including the Balthazar summoning spell, but nothing had worked. She'd even tried, as foolish as it had been at the time, to bring herself to Cole, but that one had also failed. And Leo had been more than a little ticked at her when he found out what she'd done.

"This is nuts," she groused, out loud. "This would be so much easier if my premonitions would just do what I want them to."

"Your powers don't work like that," Leo reminded her.

"Piper and Prue have their powers under control," Phoebe pointed out.

"Premonitions were unreliable even for Melinda Warren," Leo told her. "There's a reason it's a rare power, even along the Halliwell line."

"Yeah, well, it's my power, and I should be able to control it," Phoebe told him.

So saying, she reached out and grabbed Leo's wrist, closing her eyes and concentrating. She ignored Leo, who was trying to get her attention, and focused everything she had on getting a premonition. After a while, she could feel a headache starting to form, but she pushed through the pain to keep trying to trigger her power. Finally, when nothing seemed to be happening, she reluctantly opened her eyes.

_And she wasn't in the cavern in the underworld, any longer. Instead, she was standing outside in the bright sunlight, surrounded by a bunch of colorful tents. There were people all around her, and when she looked around, she saw Leo lying on the ground in front of her, and a barely-conscious Cole sprawled out beside her. He was a bleeding, burned mess, and she was about to call for help when she saw someone running toward her out of the corner of her eye. _

_She looked up as a woman with long, dark hair stopped beside her, kneeling down beside Leo. _

_"Phoebe, thank god," the woman said, relief clear in her voice. "Don't worry. Everything's going to be fine."_

Startled, Phoebe let go of Leo's wrist, ending the premonition. She sat back, her head spinning wildly, and gave Leo a weak smile.

"It worked," she told him, trying to quell the worried look she could see in his eyes. "I didn't really see anything useful – at least, I don't think I did, but I still had a premonition. Practically on command."

She grinned at him in triumph, and Leo sighed when he saw the determined look on her face.

"You're really serious about this, aren't you?" he asked, and Phoebe nodded.

"It might be the only way that we can get out of here, alive," she told him.

With another sigh, Leo heaved himself to a sitting position, and Phoebe helped him up until he was leaning, wearily, against the cavern wall. Just the exertion of trying to sit up had him panting with exhaustion, his skin ashen gray. But, he had a fiercely determined look in his eyes as he met her gaze.

"If you're going to do this," he told her, "you need to do it, right. I don't want to see you get hurt."

"How could I get hurt seeing the future?" Phoebe asked, wryly, but Leo just shook his head.

"Cassandra Warren, the last witch to have premonitions before you tried to harness her powers, as well," Leo went on, his tone serious. "The effort nearly drove her insane."

"I'm a Charmed One," Phoebe said, stubbornly. "This is my destiny, and I'm taking control of it."

"Then take my hands," Leo instructed, reaching out to her. "Just close your eyes and let go of everything in your mind. Don't think, don't feel, just be."

Phoebe didn't know exactly how useful the Whitelighter's advice was, but she was determined to give it a shot, anyway. Scooting closer to Leo, she reached out and took his hands in her own, closing her eyes as he'd instructed.

"Listen to my voice," Leo told her, his voice quiet and rhythmic. "Just breathe, slowly, in and out. Like you're meditating."

"Okay," Phoebe said, hesitantly, still not sure what she was supposed to be doing.

She and Leo breathed together for several minutes, falling into an easy rhythm. Leo had stopped talking, and the sounds of everything around them rushed in to fill the silence. But, following Leo's instructions, Phoebe just let everything wash over her. She didn't try to hold onto anything; she just let everything go.

"Now," Leo said, his voice still quiet. "I want you to anticipate what I'm going to say next."

"How am I going to do that?" Phoebe wondered, out loud, and Leo squeezed her hands to get her attention.

"Focus," he told her, firmly. "Just tell me what I'm going to say next."

He kept talking, and Phoebe listened, intently, trying to figure out what he was going to say. But, she always wound up echoing him, after flubbing her initial guess. And her frustration with the exercise was starting to rise.

"You're thinking too much," Leo interrupted her, quietly. "Stop thinking. Start feeling."

Forcing herself to take a deep breath, Phoebe let go of all the negative thoughts clamoring for her attention, the ones telling her that she was never going to be able to do whatever it was Leo was trying to get her to do. Then, she took Leo's advice to heart, sinking into the light trance she fell into when she was meditating.

She could still hear Leo talking, but now he sounded as if he was standing at a distance. And, over it, she could hear a small voice almost whispering in her ear. At first, she couldn't make out any of the words, but when she gave up trying to hear them, the words started to become more distinct, more clear.

_"You need to relax,"_ came the soft whisper, and she realized that she was hearing Leo's words before he'd even said them. _"Stop trying to force your power to work; just let it come to you. Don't just see the future-"_

"Live the future," Phoebe murmured, out loud, and it took her a second to realize that Leo hadn't said the words out loud, yet.

"Exactly," Leo told her, a grin spreading across his face. "You've got it."

"You mean that my power is under my control?" Phoebe asked, excited by the possibility.

"Probably not total control," Leo cautioned her, a warning tone in his voice. "I wouldn't go out there and rely on premonitions, completely, to keep you from running into trouble. Don't get cocky out there."

"Everything is going to be fine," Phoebe said, unconsciously echoing the woman from her earlier premonition. "You just stay here and don't get caught. I'll be back with Cole as soon as I can."

At the mouth of their hidden cavern, she checked carefully to make sure that there were no demons around. Then, she moved out of the cavern, stolen athame in one hand while her other hand trailed lightly along the wall, so that she could hopefully pick up on any premonitions before danger could strike.

"All right," she muttered to herself. "Time to put this new control over my power to the ultimate test."


	18. Chapter 18

**Author's Note: **Thanks so much to everyone who's been reading and reviewing.

**Chapter Eighteen**

As she moved slowly down the corridors, Phoebe kept a careful eye out for any demons. She'd been moving for nearly fifteen minutes without running into anyone, when suddenly the corridor in front of her changed. She caught a flash out of the corner of her eye, and she spun around to see a pair of demons bearing down on her, energy balls held aloft.

Then, the premonition ended, and she staggered as she was released from its grip. She was alone in the corridor once again, but she could hear footsteps in the distance, and she ducked around a corner up ahead, waiting anxiously. A few seconds later, the same demons from her premonition passed within a few feet of her, completely oblivious to her hiding spot.

When they'd moved past her, Phoebe let out the breath she'd been holding, sagging in relief against the wall behind her.

"I can't believe that actually worked," she muttered, in amazement.

As she continued her trek down the corridor, her premonitions saved her two more times from demons, one encounter that she was able to avoid all together, and the other where she wound up vanquishing two demons. She was especially proud of the last one, since when she'd first surprised the demons, she hadn't been sure that she could take them.

It had been surprisingly easy, which scared her just a little bit. The longer she stayed down in the Underworld, the easier it was to work her magic. And she couldn't help but wonder if that said something about her, if she should be worrying about turning evil.

"Worry about getting Cole out of danger, first," she told herself, firmly. "Then, worry about turning evil."

She continued down the corridors, moving with confidence back to the altar room where Leo had almost been sacrificed, which she was sure was the same place Cole was being held. But, when she reached a fork in the latest corridor that she'd turned down, she had the strongest feeling to go in the other direction.

"Might as well go with the feeling," she muttered, turning down the corridor. "My premonitions haven't led me wrong, so far."

As she crept down the corridor, the feeling got stronger and stronger, until she had finally reached the cavern at the end of the corridor. Taking refuge right outside the entrance, she peered inside and gasped in horror.

Cole was strung up in the middle of the cavern, bruised and bloodied just like she'd seen in her premonition. His head was slumped down to his chest, and if she hadn't seen him breathing in slow, shallow breaths, she would have thought that he was dead, rather than just unconscious.

He was also surrounded by demons, and that put a severe hitch in her plans to rescue him.

_'Maybe I should have taken Leo's powers,'_ she thought, ruefully. _'That way, I could orb in, grab Cole, and get out before anyone could touch us.'_

Then, she realized that she didn't need Leo's orbing power. Not when Cole's very handy shimmering power was so close for the taking. And, if she had his energy balls, she could use them to fight off the demons at the same time.

The only hitch was that she couldn't use the standard switching spell. Without being able to get close to Cole, there was no guarantee that she wouldn't wind up accidentally switching powers with one of the other demons in the chamber. And she didn't want to lose her premonitions, or, even worse, risk someone else getting them.

Which meant making up a spell on the fly. Hard enough under the best of conditions, and these were certainly not the best of conditions.

_'I have to be specific,'_ she thought, pacing away from the entrance to the chamber, tapping the athame absently against her hand as she thought. _'I have to word everything just right, or-'_

She froze at a flash out of the corner of her eye, the signal she'd come to interpret as a vision coming to her. She caught a few seconds of a demon bearing down on her, and then the premonition ended and she was alone in the corridor, again. She moved to find a hiding spot, but before she could get out of sight, the demon had rounded the corner, her eyes widening in alarm when she saw Phoebe standing there.

Swearing under her breath, Phoebe launched herself at the demon, levitating into the air and kicking her in the face. The demon staggered back, blood pouring from her nose where Phoebe had broken it, but she quickly righted herself, glaring murderously at Phoebe.

She opened her mouth, presumably to call for help and alert the Source and his other demons to Phoebe's presence, but she never got the chance. Faster than even she'd imagined that she could, Phoebe threw the athame in her hand, watching as the blade was buried to the hilt in the demon's throat. The demon's voice came out in a strangled gargle, and she collapsed to the floor clawing madly at her throat. Her body twitched once, twice, and then she was still.

Moving quickly over to the demon, Phoebe pulled the athame out of her throat, wiping the blood off on the demon's skimpy outfit. Then, she hooked her hands under the dead demon's arms, pulling her back along the corridor until she'd found a niche to stuff the body in.

Creeping back to the entrance of the chamber where Cole was being held, Phoebe took a quick peek in to assess the situation. She flinched when she saw Cole being tortured, his head thrown back in a silent scream, and she had to force herself not to run to his side before she was ready.

_'Get that spell done,'_ she told herself, firmly. _'Then you can rescue Cole and vanquish everyone who's hurting him.'_

After thinking about it for a few minutes (and blocking out the sounds of Cole's torture going on just a few feet away from her, so that she could concentrate), Phoebe thought she had something that would work. She'd decided that the powers that she really needed were her premonitions, so that she could stay one step ahead of demons, and Cole's shimmering power, so that she could get him out of there and back to where Leo was hiding.

His other powers, especially energy balls, would certainly have been useful, but she wasn't going to count on them. Not with the way she'd been able to word the spell. She just had to hope it worked the way she wrote it to, and let everything else fall into place.

Getting as close the entrance of the chamber as she could, Phoebe peered cautiously around the corner, making sure that she had a clear line of sight with Cole. Then, sending up a quick prayer for luck, she took a deep breath and whispered:

_"Balthazar's powers, switch with me,_

_But keep the future, so I may see._

_Give me flight to aid our escape,_

_So we may avoid a grisly fate."_

There was a quick flickering of lights around Cole, as if the spell had worked, and Phoebe held her breath, waiting to see if any of the demons had noticed. But, the light seemed to have gone unnoticed by any of the demons, and Phoebe slowly let out a quiet sigh of relief as she stepped away from the entrance to the chamber, out of sight.

Moving quietly back to the nook where she'd hidden the demon's body, Phoebe took a few, quick seconds to practice Cole's powers. She needed to make sure that the spell had actually worked, for one thing, and she also wanted to be able to use his powers correctly when she rescued him. The last thing she needed was to go into an area filled with demons, unprepared.

Ignoring the dead demon behind her, Phoebe focused on a spot a few feet away from her. Then, taking a few deep breaths to center herself, she willed herself to be in that spot. For a few seconds, nothing happened, but just when she was about to give up on the spell as having been a lost cause, she felt herself go away.

There was a split-second moment where she felt like she was nowhere and everywhere, all at once, and then the world slammed down on her as she materialized on the spot she'd been concentrating on. She could feel everything that she'd eaten over the last few days trying to come back up on her, and she staggered back against the wall with her hand over her mouth, trying desperately to keep from throwing up.

_'If this is how Cole and Leo feel all the time when they do this,'_ she thought, as she fought the nausea rising in her throat, _'then I don't think I ever want to do that, again.'_

But, after a few uneasy moments, the nausea finally started to fade. Pushing herself away from the wall, Phoebe started to head back out into the corridor, but she stopped before she left her impromptu hiding place. Before she walked out into what was going to be a definitely dangerous situation, she wanted to make sure that she still had her premonitions.

Putting a hand on the wall of her hiding spot, Phoebe concentrated on Cole, on seeing where he was at that moment. Then, as the world grayed out in front of her eyes, showing her exactly what she wanted to see, a slow smile spread across her face.

"It's show time," she muttered, determination in her voice.

She crept out of the hidden nook and back down the corridor, toward the chamber where she could still hear Cole being tortured. Stopping at the entrance to the chamber, she peered carefully around the corner, making sure that she had a clear line of sight with Cole. As if he could sense her watching him, Cole lifted his head from where it had fallen to his chest, his bloodshot eyes meeting hers.

He shook his head, imperceptibly, trying to warn her off without alerting the other demons to her presence, but Phoebe wasn't about to let herself be deterred. She gave him a quick thumbs up, hoping to convey that she had a plan, and that she knew what she was doing. But, when Cole just let his head fall back onto his chest, she got the feeling that she hadn't been very convincing.

_'You'll be convinced after I get all of us out of the Underworld,'_ she thought, resolutely. _'I am a Charmed One, damn it. I am not some shrinking violet victim, and I'm not going to let some demons control my life.'_

Making sure to keep her eyes locked on Cole, Phoebe focused on being right beside him. She felt that moment of disorientation as she disappeared, and then she materialized right next to Cole. Pushing through the nausea that threatened to rise in her throat, she wrapped her hands firmly around Cole's arm and focused on getting away from the torture chamber. Then, her eyes widened in shock when she realized that they were still standing there, that they hadn't shimmered anywhere.

"Why aren't your powers working?" she demanded in a furious undertone, edging closer to Cole as the other demons suddenly became aware of her existence.

"There's a dampening spell around me," came the tired reply. "Don't you think that if I could shimmer out of here, that I would have done it, by now? And what were you thinking, anyway?"

"Less criticism, more coming up with a plan to get us out of here," Phoebe snapped at him, and then she cringed back, instinctively, when one of the demons threw an energy ball at her.

The energy ball fizzled out when it hit the dampening spell, which was a relief. But, she knew that she couldn't stay inside the spell's circle, forever. It wasn't like the spell kept the demons out, as well. There was nothing preventing them from coming in to get her.

In the same breath, she realized that there was nothing keeping her in, either. And she was still armed with her stolen athame, giving her an advantage that the demons didn't know about. Before she had the chance to think about what she was doing, Phoebe palmed the dagger, holding it tight against her forearm, and then she darted out of the relative protection of the spell circle.

"Phoebe, what the hell?" Cole demanded, incredulously, as she left his side.

"Don't worry, honey," she called back, grimly, as she slashed at one of the demons with the athame, slicing deep along his extended arm. "I've got everything under control."

Even as the demon she'd crippled staggered backward, clutching his injured arm to his chest, she lashed out with a high kick that sent him straight into the path of a fireball that was headed for her. The demon was vanquished, screaming, but Phoebe didn't give him more than a second's thought as she moved to confront the next attack.

She was depending on her power of premonition more than ever before, pushing her new advancement to the limit. And so far, it hadn't let her down, giving her split-second warning as to the demons' plans and keeping her one step ahead of their fireballs. She was starting to think that it was too good to be true.

A second later, as another energy ball came flying at her, Phoebe silently cursed at herself for tempting fate. Focusing, she shimmered in place, reappearing right after the energy ball had soared past where she had been standing. Then, she thrust her hand out, intending to throw the athame at her attacker.

Instead, she watched in amazement as an energy ball left her hand to strike the demon in the chest. He was vanquished a heartbeat later, going up in flames, and Phoebe took a second to consider the implications. Then, she grinned in triumph.

"That power rocks," she informed Cole, who gave her a weak smile in return.

Moving the athame into a more secure grip in her hand, Phoebe moved forward to challenge the last pair of demons in the chamber. They both threw energy balls at her, but she ducked them, easily, thanks to her premonitions. Then, summoning another energy ball, she threw it at the one of the demons, watching as he was vanquished in a burst of flames.

That left just one.

"What's the matter?" Phoebe asked, tauntingly, as she and the demon circled each other, warily, sizing each other up like dogs before a fight. "You're not afraid of one little witch, are you?"

"You won't find me such an easy target," the demon retorted, as he made a mock lunge at her that she moved away from, quickly. "I'm not going down without a fight."

"Neither am I," Phoebe said, grimly.

Taking a chance that she could catch the demon off guard, Phoebe threw an energy ball at him, then she watched in dismay as he deflected it off a shield that had formed around the palm of his hand. The energy ball hit the dampening spell around Cole and fizzled out of existence, but Phoebe thought she caught a flicker of electricity in the air when it hit.

That's when she noticed that Cole was swinging from the chains holding him suspended in the middle of the chamber. With his head dropped down to his chest and his eyes closed, he looked like he was just randomly swaying, the result of having been pushed or struck by something. But, when she looked closer, Phoebe watched as his bare feet deliberately dragged against the ground every time he moved.

For a second, she couldn't figure out what he was doing, but then she watched as his toes barely cleared the lines of the spell that had been traced in the dirt that covered the floor. And, as his movement created an almost imperceptible blemish in the circle, she got what he was trying to do.

Praying that the last demon hadn't noticed what Cole was up to, Phoebe moved slowly across the floor, angling herself to get into the best position. Then, she threw another energy ball at the demon, hoping that he thought that she was just trying to break through his protective barrier.

The demon deflected that energy ball, and the one after it, both of them dying out on the dampening spell that surrounded Cole. But, each time, the sparks of energy that flew off the spell's perimeter lasted a little longer, and were a little brighter. Phoebe figured it would take just one more energy ball to get the job done, and she focused on making it a big one.

Like expected, the demon deflected the energy ball away from him, a smug smirk on his face. Then, the smirk fell off his face as the energy ball soared through empty air to hit the chains holding Cole suspended from the ceiling. The chains disintegrated where the energy ball had hit them, and Cole collapsed to the floor, unable to stand on his own.

Not wasting a second, Phoebe threw another, small energy ball at the demon, followed quickly by the athame. The demon deflected the energy ball, but he wasn't fast enough to catch the athame, which sunk deep into his chest, right over his heart.

Then, Phoebe sprinted over to Cole, wrapping her arms around her boyfriend and shimmering away…


	19. Chapter 19

**Author's Note: **Thanks to everyone who's been reading and reviewing. I love hearing what everyone thinks about the fic.

**Chapter Nineteen**

As the demon shimmered away, Prue and Piper sprinted away from the office, with Henry hot on their heels. Prue, in the lead, didn't even know where she was going, but she knew that they had to get to Paige and Tyler before the demons did.

But, before they'd gotten even a hundred feet down the hallway, a sparkle of bright lights in their path had them all slamming to a stop. The lights coalesced into Andy, who had a grim expression on his face.

"Andy, our sister is in trouble," Prue snapped at him, impatiently.

"Maybe more than you know," the Whitelighter told her, before she could move around him. "I've been talking to the Elders."

"And?" Henry demanded, as he and Piper came up beside Prue. "What did you find out?"

"If Paige kills as a Fury," Andy told them, "then she'll stay that way. Permanently."

Henry swore, vividly, and then Prue found herself doing the same thing when the man ducked past them and sprinted down the hallway, his gun out and pointed at the floor. She and Piper gave chase down the hallway, now with Andy on their heels, as they tried to catch up to Henry before he got into trouble and got himself killed. She had the feeling that Paige would be pretty pissed at them if they let that happen.

When they caught up to Henry, he was standing just outside a doorway, peering cautiously into the room.

"Paige is in there with a whole bunch of demons," he hissed, quietly, as they stopped beside him. "And, she doesn't exactly look like herself."

Taking a quick look into the room, Prue saw her youngest sister sporting a wicked looking set of talons on her hands and strange tattoos that covered nearly every inch of exposed skin. The markings on her skin started out light on her hands, becoming progressively darker as they moved up her arms and toward her face. The markings on her face were the darkest ones, and Prue really didn't want to think about what that could have meant.

"We have to get in there," she told Piper, in a hushed voice. "We have to stop Paige before she goes fully Fury on us."

"On three," Piper agreed, as she counted down on her fingers, and as she curled the last one into a fist, the three of them burst into the room.

First into the room, Prue swept her arm in an arc, sending a trio of demons flying backward to crash into the far wall. Piper, just behind her, flicked her hand out and froze another demon that had lunged at them, stopping him mid-stride. Then, Prue sent the demon flying backward with a wave of her hand, straight into the path of an oncoming fireball.

As they moved further into the room, back to back fighting off demons, Prue noticed Henry out of the corner of her eye, slipping away along the wall. At first, she couldn't tell what he was doing, but then she noticed a slumped figure lying on the floor, blond hair visible even across the room, and she realized that he was trying to get to Tyler. She only hoped that they weren't too late.

She kept an eye on Henry while she was fighting, and he'd just reached Tyler when she saw someone moving toward them. Breaking away from Piper, Prue bolted across the room to reach Henry and Tyler before the demon did.

But, as she got closer, she realized that it wasn't a demon, but Paige, a look of protective fury on her face. She'd stopped in front of Henry, her hand raised as if to slash at him with her talons, but then he turned and looked at her, and she froze.

"It's okay," Henry said, quietly, even as Prue got ready to strike her sister down if she tried to hurt the man. "It's all right, Paige. I've got Tyler; he's safe with me."

Paige nodded, once, stiffly, lowering her hand, slowly. It was then that Prue noticed the tremors that wracked her body, making her shake. She was clearly fighting for control against the demonic influence that threatened to take over, and Prue was afraid that she was losing.

"Prue, help me," Paige whispered, her voice cracking with the strain. "I can't-"

"It's going to be okay," Prue hastened to reassure her. "You just have to not kill anyone. Otherwise, you'll be a Fury for the rest of your life."

"That's easier said than done," Paige replied, honestly. "I can barely think straight, and these demons are too strong. I can't fight them."

"You're not alone, now," Prue told her, firmly. "You've got me and Piper, now."

"And me," Henry spoke up, quietly, surprising them. "If anyone can fight this thing, it's you, Paige. Trust me."

Paige nodded, again, a determined look crossing her face at Henry's words. Then, she and Prue moved into the fray, leaving Henry to protect Tyler. They fought their way to Piper's side, where the middle witch had just blown up a demon.

"Nice shot, sis!" Prue cheered her, and Piper grinned.

"Thanks," she said. "And, that one, I was actually trying to blow up. I think I'm finally getting the hang of my new power."

"Good," Prue replied. "Now, we just have to help Paige keep control of hers."

"This thing about turning into a Fury?" Paige asked, her voice strained as she slashed out at a demon with her talons. "Am I allowed to maim the demons at all?"

"Andy just said no killing," Piper told her, flicking her hands out and freezing a demon in his tracks and then moving aside so that Prue could send the demon flying. "So, I'd say, maim to your heart's content."

She was about to blow up a demon heading for Prue's back when something small came flying through the air. The demon instinctively caught the flying object, and a second later, the object exploded, making the demon scream as he suddenly caught fire.

"What the hell?" Prue asked, startled, as she and her sisters turned to see what had just vanquished the demon.

They saw Henry and a now-conscious Tyler in the corner, with Tyler leaning against the older man, and Henry had his arms wrapped protectively around the boy. Henry had something in his hands that he threw, and as soon as it was near a demon, Tyler squinted at the flying object, making it burst into flames and injuring the nearby demon.

"Those are the emergency flares from the roadside kit in the back of my Jeep," Piper said, surprised, as Henry threw another flare toward a demon.

"I didn't know they could explode like that," Prue commented.

"Apparently, they can," Piper replied. "And, apparently, it's a good way to kill demons."

"Since Henry's got everything under control over there," Paige interjected, suddenly, "can we maybe worry about these demons?"

Prue whirled back around in time to see Paige slash at a demon with her talons, opening his chest up with a single blow. The demon staggered backward, reeling with pain, but he still managed to throw an energy ball that hit Paige and threw her backward. She landed, hard, on the floor, and when she got back to her feet, her eyes were blazing and the markings on her skin were getting darker.

But, with an obvious effort, she managed to rein herself in, keeping control of the demon inside that was trying to take over. Her struggles cost her, however, as she didn't notice the demon advancing on her, and Prue barely had time to shout.

Focusing, she astral projected to Paige's side, kicking the demon away from her youngest sister. A second later, she was back in her own body, again, but she'd bought Paige enough time to get herself back under control.

Trying to keep her attention on both Piper and Paige, Prue turned to confront the latest demon coming at her, but then the demon stopped in his tracks, his head tipped to the side as though he was listening to something. Then, before she had the chance to do anything, all of the surviving demons shimmered out of the room, leaving them alone.

"What the hell?" Piper burst out, into the silence that fell over the room.

"They all ran away," Prue noted, unnecessarily, as she looked around the room. "Maybe we were too much for them?"

"Maybe MacGuyver over there scared them away," Piper quipped, jerking her head in Henry's direction.

Prue turned to look at the man, and watched as Paige moved unsteadily toward him and Tyler, still shaking. But, Henry didn't hesitate, reaching out and pulling Paige into his arms, holding on tightly, with Tyler joining in on the hug, as well. After a second, Paige relaxed into the embrace, dropping her head onto Henry's shoulder as she hugged him and Tyler back.

At the same time, the markings on her skin vanished into smoke and her talons disappeared. When she pulled away from Henry, she was completely human, again, a tired smile gracing her features.

"Thank you," she said, quietly. "For not giving up on me, thank you."

"Well, I couldn't exactly let you spend the rest of your life as a demon," Henry said, jokingly, although from the look on his face, it was clear that he wanted to say something else, entirely.

"We still have another problem," Piper spoke up into the silence that had fallen over the room. "I don't think Tyler was the only kid being held here," she added, as she and Prue walked over to the couple. "There was a girl in the office of some creepy demon, and he said something about taking her down to somewhere and putting some kind of collar on her."

"He was talking like it would inhibit her powers, or something," Prue added.

"Let's go, then," Paige said, immediately. "Henry, can you stay here with Tyler?"

"Be careful," Henry said, in response.

Then, in a move that clearly surprised Paige, he leaned forward and brushed a gentle kiss across her cheek. He didn't say anything about it, and Paige just looked at him for a second with a strange look on her face.

"I guess that's two that I owe you, now," she finally said, and a small smile quirked across Henry's face.

Then, Paige spun on her heel and headed for the doors leading out of the room, with her sisters scrambling to catch up.

"What the heck was that about?" Prue asked, when they'd caught up to Paige outside the room.

"I think that man delights in being confusing," was all Paige said, as they walked down the hallway. "Hey, you guys didn't run into the other Furies on your way here, did you?"

"No," Piper answered. "We actually expected to find them here with you, since Henry said that they were the ones who grabbed you."

"They disappeared right after we got here," Paige told them. "I'm worried that they're going after someone else."

"If they are, then we'll hunt them down," Prue vowed.

As they followed the hallway, they passed a single elevator in the middle of the hallway, and Prue stopped her sisters when she saw it.

"Since when to mansions come with elevators?" she asked, jerking her head toward the steel doors.

"You think that'll take us where we need to go?" Paige asked, as she reached out and pushed the only button on the wall, an arrow pointing down.

"So long as it doesn't take us to another demonic training ground in the Underworld," Piper commented, and Paige shot her an incredulous look.

"Okay, I'm going to want the story on that little remark, later," she said.

When the elevator arrived, the three of them got on, moving cautiously out of range of the doors, just in case. The elevator only had two buttons, up and down, and with some trepidation, Prue pushed the down button.

The elevator started traveling, and a few seconds later, the doors slid open with an almost imperceptible hiss. Piper was the first one out the door, her hands raised to freeze anything in sight, but the room they'd emerged in was completely empty, and she signaled her sisters out with a wave of her hand.

"Looks like we were too late," she said, as they looked around the room.

The walls of the room were lined with prison cells, all of them empty with the doors thrown open. Each cell was outfitted with a single cot with a thin blanket thrown over it, and the cells were only big enough to comfortably hold one person.

"What the hell were they doing down here?" Prue asked, in disgust, as she picked up one of the thin blankets.

"I'd give anything to have Phoebe and her premonitions here, right about now," Piper said, quietly, obviously not thinking about it, and Prue flinched at the reminder of their younger sister.

"Where is Phoebe?" Paige spoke up, quietly, into the awkward silence that followed Piper's comment. "I mean, I know that she should be here, but-"

"Phoebe went missing the day that your future self came back and saved us from Shax," Prue told her. "She was supposed to be up in the attic getting the vanquishing spell, but you and Henry came down, instead."

Paige looked surprised at that, and Prue wondered if she knew that her future self hadn't come back, alone. From the speculative look that crossed her younger sister's face, she guessed not.

"I still don't remember anything about that day," Paige said, quietly, after a few seconds. "I don't know if I saw Phoebe on that day, or not. I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Piper tried to reassure her, but Paige shook her head, stubbornly.

"No, it's not," she said, flatly. "If I came back from the future to save you guys, then I came back to save all of you. I'll do everything I can to help you find Phoebe. It would just be a hell of a lot easier if I had all of my memories."

"You're getting your memories back, aren't you?" Piper asked.

"Yeah, slowly," Paige grumbled. "The only thing that seems to speed things up is when I get a burst of adrenaline, but I can't keep putting myself in life or death situations just to test that theory."

"If you stick with us long enough, you won't have to go looking for them," Prue said, jokingly. "The life and death situations just start falling into your lap, after a while."

A faint look of alarm flashed across Paige's face and she blinked at Prue in shock, trying to digest that little bit of information.

"Is it too late to back out of the whole witch thing?" she asked, faintly, as the three of them headed back to the elevator.

"You're stuck with us, now," Prue told her, slinging an arm around the younger woman's shoulders.

"How reassuring," Paige grumbled.

When the elevator opened on the main hallway, they got out and headed back to the room where they'd left Henry and Tyler. As they walked into the room, they were greeted by a pile of ash in the middle of the room – and a Fury advancing on Henry and Tyler with her talons outstretched.

"No!" Paige yelled, and a gust of wind whipped up out of nowhere to slam into the Fury, whirling her around and around in a mini-tornado before it spit her out on the other side of the room.

The Fury staggered to her feet, clearly dazed by her sudden trip across the room, but Paige didn't let the demon have a second to regain her bearings. She thrust her hand out, wordlessly, and a bolt of lightning left her palm to strike the Fury squarely in the chest. The Fury went up in flames, leaving only a pile of ashes like the one a few feet away.

Still quiet, Paige went over to where Henry and Tyler were standing, hugging them both tightly as she reassured herself that they were okay. Prue and Piper hung back, letting the three of them having their quiet moment, but it was interrupted by the sound of distant sirens getting closer and closer.

Going to the window on the far side of the room, Prue looked out, her eyebrows flying up in shock at what she saw.

"Okay," she demanded, "who called the cops?"


	20. Chapter 20

**Author's Note: **Well, I can safely say that the end of this chapter got away from what I had originally planned. But, I hope you enjoy it. As always, major thanks to everyone who's been reading and reviewing. Virtual cookies to everyone (and real ones, if I could figure out how).

**Chapter Twenty**

"Okay," Prue demanded, as she whirled away from the window. "Who called the cops?"

"I did," Henry spoke up, surprising all three of them.

Paige stared at him, incredulously, as she pulled away from him.

"You did _what_?" she demanded. "I don't suppose that it occurred to you that we just vanquished a lot of demons in here?"

"It did," Henry answered, evenly. "But, I talked to an Inspector Morris, who you-"

He broke off, suddenly, and Paige realized that he was trying to figure out a way to phrase things so that he didn't sound like he was crazy. Prue and Piper might have let the cat out of the bag, in regards to Henry having come back from the future with her future self, but Henry didn't know that she knew that.

"Darryl Morris is a friend of ours," Piper spoke up, smoothly, saving Henry from trying to come up with something plausible. "He helps us on cases like this, and none of this is going to freak him out."

"Besides," Henry added, quickly. "We have to think of some way to explain how Tyler's parents disappeared."

"I think you vanquished one of them with your exploding flares," Paige told him, wryly.

"Yeah, well, we can't exactly tell that to a judge," Henry retorted. "So, maybe this Morris guy can help us with that."

"Help with what?" a new voice spoke up, making all of them jump with surprise.

"Make some noise, next time, Darryl," Piper scolded the man as he walked across the room to join them.

Quickly and concisely, they told Darryl everything that had happened, that day, and Paige watched as his frown got deeper and deeper as he looked around the room.

"You said that Tyler called your cell phone?" he finally asked, turning to Paige.

"Yeah, it's-" She broke off, patting down her pockets, quickly. "Wait a minute, where's my phone?"

"Oh, here," Henry said, quickly, digging her phone out of his pocket and passing it to her. "Prue and Piper were using it to scry for you, earlier."

"So, Tyler called you," Darryl prompted, as Paige took her phone back. "Did he actually mention demons, at all?"

"Just some crazy woman with a knife," Paige told him.

"Why?" Prue asked, looking over at Darryl. "What are you thinking?"

"That we stick as close to the truth as possible, on this one," Darryl said, surprising all of them. "Leave out the demon part, of course. We'll say that Tyler's parents were part of some kind of satanic cult, or something, that they drugged him for some kind of ritual, and that he called you after he managed to get away. Then, you called me to help, came out here against my advice, and found the whole place empty, with Tyler hiding somewhere."

"That's actually a really good excuse," Paige said, impressed by the man's quick thinking.

"I do have my moments," Darryl said, with a sardonic grin.

"You want me to lie to the police?" Tyler spoke up, a hint of doubt in his voice.

"Well, we've seen some dangerous things happen when regular people find out about magic," Prue spoke up. "And, I know it seems bad to lie, but the alternative is even worse."

"But, what if I can't?" Tyler asked, nervously, and Paige realized that there was more than just nerves in his voice, there was outright fear.

"You don't even have to talk to the police, if you don't want to," she reassured him.

"What if they make me?" Tyler asked, looking at her with a desperate look in his eyes.

"They're going to have to get through me, first," Paige told him, firmly, and behind him, Prue had an eyebrow raised.

"The cops aren't going to know what hit them," she muttered.

Finally, Tyler nodded, leaning against Paige for support. Paige wrapped her arms around him, and she winced as a sudden pain shot up her arms. Gingerly, she rolled her arms so that she could see what was wrong, and she saw the burns on the insides of her arms that she'd managed to forget about in the adrenaline rush of fighting demons.

Henry looked shocked when he saw the state of her arms, but to her surprise he didn't say anything. Instead, he pulled Piper aside, whispering something that she couldn't hear. Piper nodded, saying something in return, and a few seconds later, bright white lights filled the air. Andy, the man that Piper and Prue had introduced as their Whitelighter, walked toward her.

Quietly, he healed her arms, and Paige sighed in relief as the pain subsided. _'Thank you,'_ she mouthed over Tyler's shoulder, as much for the healing as for the man's discretion in not alerting Tyler. He'd had a rough enough day without worrying over her.

Andy nodded, silently, stepping back, and then Paige looked up at the sound of voices. Beside her, Andy had gone completely stiff, staring in shock at the police officers who were filing into the room, talking with Darryl, Piper, and Prue.

"Oh, shit," he breathed, softly.

"Something wrong?" Henry asked, quietly, as he joined them.

"Just that I died two years ago," the Whitelighter muttered.

"That could be a problem," Paige said, taking a quick look around to see if there was anywhere that they could hide Andy, in a hurry.

But, before they could do anything, one of the officers looked over at them, his eyes widening in shock when he saw Andy.

"Hey, Trudeau," he called out, as everyone looked over in their direction. "Back at work so soon?"

"Um, yeah," Andy stammered, as he shot Paige and Henry a nervous, sidelong glance. "Hey, Morris, I got witness statements from these three."

"Great," Darryl called back, and Paige watched Andy breathe a quiet sigh of relief.

"Well, that's one obstacle out of the way," she said, quietly. "At least we don't have to worry about talking to the cops. No offense, Andy."

"None taken," Andy said, waving her comment off.

Paige was about to say something else, but she snapped her mouth shut when one of the other cops came over to where they were standing.

"Ms. Matthews, Officer Mitchell," he greeted them. "I'm Inspector Marks. You know that what you did was extremely dangerous, don't you?"

"Yeah," Henry said, ruefully, with a glance over at Paige. "We're starting to pick up on that."

"That aside," Marks continued, "it was also incredibly brave. I don't know many people who would go charging into a situation like this."

"You have kids, Inspector?" Henry asked, quietly, wrapping his arms protectively around Paige and Tyler. "Kind of makes the danger irrelevant."

"Did you want something, Inspector?" Paige asked, hoping that the man wasn't about to start asking questions that they really weren't prepared to answer. "We've all had a long day, and I really just want to get Tyler home."

"I'm afraid that's the problem," Marks told her. "Tyler Martin is no longer your foster son, Ms. Matthews. And with his parents currently missing, he's back to being a ward of the state."

"Like hell," Paige growled, tightening her arms around Tyler as she glared at the man.

"I'm not saying that it's right," Marks insisted. "But, it is the truth."

"Not for long," Paige retorted, under her breath.

When Darryl called out to Marks, the other man thankfully left them alone, and Paige let out a breath that she hadn't even been aware she was holding.

"How could I forget about having to deal with the family court judge?" she sighed, heavily. "God, what are we going to do?"

"Go up in front of the judge and hope that Darryl's story doesn't have any holes in it," Henry said, calmly. At her incredulous look, he added, "What? Like you're afraid of a mere mortal after facing down all those demons?"

"Yeah, a mere mortal with the power to take away my kid," Paige shot back, but there wasn't any real heat in her voice.

"It's not like you're the only one who's going to be lying to the judge," Henry retorted, quietly, so that no one else could hear him.

"You're coming with us?" Paige asked, and Henry nodded.

"I've got your back," he reassured her.

"That's so sweet," Prue said, in a syrupy voice, as she and Piper came over, and Paige rolled her eyes at her older sister. "So, Darryl's taking off with the other cops, presumably to start a search for Tyler's abductors. Apparently they're leaving Andy to handle things, here." Shooting the Whitelighter a look, she added, "Any idea what that's about?"

"You mean, why no one seems to remember that I died?" Andy asked, bluntly. "I have no clue."

"The Elders probably did something," Henry suggested. When Prue and Piper shot him an incredulous look, he shrugged. "Well, if they can merge my soul with a version of me five years in the past, bringing someone back from the dead probably isn't out of the realm of possibility."

"So that really is what happened," Paige muttered, and Henry gave her a curious look. "I'll explain later," she said, quickly.

Her phone rang a second later, and she dug it out of her pocket, flipping open the phone.

"Hello?" she asked.

"Paige, I heard about what happened to Tyler," Cowan told her. "Is he all right?"

"Tyler's fine, he's not hurt," she hastened to reassure the older man. "Mr. Cowan, what am I going to do about Tyler's situation? I can't just let him go back into foster care. Not after everything that's happened."

"Funny you should mention it," her boss said, "A couple of hours ago, I was contacted by the judge who presided over Tyler's original hearing, and it seems that there were some inconsistencies about it."

"What kind of inconsistencies?" Paige asked.

"Apparently," Cowan told her, "all of the evidence provided by Tyler's so-called parents was faked, somehow."

"Really," Paige said, dryly. "Imagine that."

"As you can imagine," Cowan continued, "the judge is not very happy about having been scammed, especially after he heard what nearly happened this afternoon, and he wants to set up another hearing."

"When?" Paige asked.

"In about half an hour," Cowan answered, and Paige automatically glanced down at her watch, grimacing at the cracked face that had been broken some time during the fight. "It's just a formality, really," Cowan went on. "The judge will want to talk to Tyler, and then to you, and, well, you know the drill."

"Yeah," Paige replied, having been to her fair share of custody hearings in her three years at South Bay Social Services. "So, you said half an hour?"

"Try not to be late," Cowan told her, and then he hung up.

"So, apparently, we have a court date," Paige told Henry, flipping her phone shut. "And we need to be across town in half an hour."

"How are we even going to get to the courthouse? Neither of us really drove here," Henry reminded her.

"Take my Jeep," Piper said, tossing her keys to Paige, who caught them one-handed. "Andy can orb us back to the Manor."

"Are you sure?" Paige asked, doubtfully. "I mean, I don't want to leave you guys without a car."

"Yeah, don't worry about it," Piper reassured her. "We've got Prue's car if we need it."

"Thanks," Paige said, gratefully. "I'll get your car back as soon as I can."

"Don't worry about it," Piper repeated. "Just get going. You don't want to be late."

"We'll call you when it's all over," Paige promised, and then she, Henry, and Tyler ran out to Piper's Jeep.

The drive to the courthouse was filled with tense silence, and in the rearview mirror, Paige could see Tyler fidgeting anxiously as he stared out of the window. He looked freaked out, not that Paige could blame him, considering everything that he'd gone through.

"We're almost done, okay?" she tried to reassure him, but Tyler still looked worried.

"What if the judge tries to make me go with some other family?" he asked, quietly, so low that she could barely hear him. "I don't want to leave you, again."

"That's not going to happen," Paige said, automatically. "Those demons used magic to screw things up in the first place, so if I have to use magic to fix it, I will."

"If nothing else," Henry told her, "there are a couple of Elders that we can convince to help us out. They still owe you for saving Piper and Prue's lives, after all."

"I think we'll leave that as plan B," Paige decided.

She parked in front of the courthouse, carefully maneuvering Piper's car into the first open spot she could find in the parking garage. She was driving slower than she usually would, because Piper's car was so much larger than she was used to, and she breathed a quiet sigh of relief when she got the car parked without a single scratch.

They went into the courthouse and got directions from the front desk to where they needed to go. On the elevator, Paige leaned against the wall, wrapping her arms around Tyler when he slumped against her.

"How are you holding up, kiddo?" Henry asked, sympathetically, and Tyler jerked his shoulder in a listless shrug.

"I'm fine," he mumbled, and Paige squeezed his shoulders, encouragingly. "Just want to go home."

"We will," Paige told him, firmly. "They're not taking you away, again. I promise."

When the elevator stopped on their floor, the three of them stepped out of the car, only to almost be run over by a middle aged man with a stack of file folders in his arms.

"Watch it," the man snapped, glaring at them, and Paige bit back the urge to snap back at him.

"Sorry," she said, instead, pasting a falsely-bright smile on her face. "Which way is Courtroom Seven?"

"Down that way," the man said, jerking his hand back over his shoulder. "Now, do you mind?" he added, gesturing impatiently for them to move out of his way.

"Wow," Tyler muttered, after the elevator doors had closed behind the man. "And I thought my demon parents were bad."

"Actually," Paige told him, as they went down the hallway, "it turns out that all of the evidence that the demons presented to the court was faked. That's what my boss had called to tell me."

"You mean they weren't my real parents?" Tyler asked, incredulously.

"Not a chance," Paige said. As they stopped in front of the courtroom, she added, "You ready for this?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," Tyler replied, determination in his voice.

"Paige," Henry said, suddenly, stopping her before she could pull open the door, "Paige, wait a minute."

"What's wrong?" Paige asked, turning to look at him.

"Nothing's wrong," Henry hastened to assure her. "It's just – I have an idea, and I know it's going to sound crazy, but just hear me out, first-"

"Henry, what is it?" she demanded, starting to get worried at the solemn look on his face.

Henry opened his mouth to say something, but then he snapped his mouth shut, swallowing hard. He'd gone pale, and he looked nervous. Finally, he screwed his courage up and just blurted it out.

"Marry me."


	21. Chapter 21

**Author's Note: **So far, this has been my favorite chapter to write. Especially after Paige and Henry hijacked the plot and took in a completely different direction than what I had planned. :) I hope you all enjoy it. Thank you so much to everyone who's been reading and reviewing; I love hearing what you think.

**Chapter Twenty-One**

"What?" Paige demanded, incredulously, her hand falling away from the door handle as she stared at Henry in shock.

"I think we should get married," Henry told her, clearly nervous but pushing ahead, nonetheless.

Paige gaped at him, soundlessly, a million protests running through her mind. The foremost one being the fact that they hadn't even known each other for a week, certainly not long enough to make such a life-altering decision. Not to mention that she didn't even really know Henry – except that she knew that he was unbelievably brave, and he clearly cared for Tyler, and it was becoming pretty clear that he had some pretty strong feelings for her, as well.

And, if she was going to be honest, she'd never found herself falling so hard and so fast for anyone, before. It was a little terrifying, actually, to feel such a deep connection to another person. Over the last three days, Henry had been in her thoughts practically every second that she wasn't with him. And when they were together, she felt like she'd known him for years.

But, it was such a huge, life-altering decision.

_'Any bigger than rearranging your life to adopt Tyler?' _a little voice in the back of her head, asked, wryly. _'Bigger than discovering magic, and demons, and your sisters?'_

When she glanced over at Henry, he was still looking at her, expectantly.

"Why?" she finally asked him, quietly. "Why do you want to marry me?"

"Well," Henry said, thoughtfully, "in the short term, because of Tyler. You've seen it yourself, that foster kids are placed better in two parent homes, and I don't want to lose Tyler any more than you do."

"Really?" Tyler asked, softly, and Henry reached out and pulled the boy over, hugging him to his side.

"Definitely," he reassured him.

"Cool," was all Tyler said, but he had a huge, beaming grin on his face, and Paige could already feel her resolve starting to melt at the pure happiness in his expression.

Part of her would have said yes on that, alone, to see Tyler safe and happy. But, another part of her needed to know for sure, know that Tyler wasn't the only reason that Henry was asking her to marry him.

"You said in the short term," she said, quietly. "But, what about the long term?"

"I love you," Henry said, earnestly, reaching out and grabbing her hands. "Paige, I've loved you since practically the first moment I saw you. You are the most courageous, spirited, amazing woman I've ever known, and I can't imagine loving anyone else. I want to spend the rest of my life with you; I want to wake up beside you in the morning and fall asleep beside you at night. I want us to grow old together." Pausing, he added, "I want you to say yes before I have to resort to lovesick clichés that just end up embarrassing us both."

Paige grinned at his small joke, but then the smile turned sad as something occurred to her.

"This future that we came from," Paige asked, hesitantly, "we loved each other, didn't we?"

"Yeah," Henry said, quietly. "Why do you think I came back with you?"

"Then, yes," Paige told him, and she watched his eyes light up. "I will marry you, Henry Mitchell."

Laughing, Henry grabbed her and pulled her to him, kissing her quickly. Paige leaned against him, kissing him back as she twined her fingers with his.

"But," she cautioned, as she finally, reluctantly, pulled away from him, "we'd better hope that the judge is satisfied with just an engagement, since I don't think that we can get married in the next five minutes."

Before Henry could say anything, a young man in a suit approached them from down the hallway, a stack of papers in his hands.

"Oh, are you folks here for the Martin case hearing?" he asked, when he saw them.

"Don't tell me we're late," Paige said, dread pooling in her stomach at the idea.

"No, no," the young man hastened to reassure them. "As a matter of fact, the hearing has been postponed for a couple of hours. The judge was inevitably delayed."

"So, when is the hearing?" Paige asked, and the young man glanced at the bright yellow sticky note on the top of the stack of papers in his arms.

"Seven pm," he answered. "In two and a half hours," he added, glancing quickly at his watch. "I'm sorry if this has inconvenienced you in any way."

"Not at all," Paige told him, shooting Henry a wry glance. "No, thank you for coming to tell us."

"My pleasure," the young man answered, and then he left them standing in the hallway.

"You were saying?" Henry asked, arching an eyebrow. "You know, I think I saw the county clerk's office down on the first floor."

"Are we even going to be able to get a marriage license this fast?" Paige asked, doubtfully, and Henry shrugged.

"We can try," he told her.

"Okay," Paige said. "Let's go get married."

As they walked back to the elevator, Paige dug her cell phone out of her pocket and dialed Piper. After three rings, her sister answered.

"How'd you like to come to a wedding?" Paige asked, before Piper could say anything.

"Whose?" Piper asked, and Paige grinned at Henry.

"Mine," she answered, and there was a stunned silence on the other end of the line.

"You're getting _married_?" Piper demanded, incredulously, and Paige could hear a distant exclamation that sounded like it came from Prue. "When?"

"As soon as Henry and I can get the marriage license approved," Paige told her. "So, what do you say? Can I count on my sisters to stand by my side?"

"We'll be there," Piper promised. "Hey, do you need Prue and me to pick you up anything?"

"I need my driver's license; it's in my purse," Paige said, and then she trailed off when she realized that she hadn't seen the bag since earlier that afternoon when she'd been grabbed by the Furies.

"Your purse is in my car," Henry spoke up, having heard her. "You dropped it when the Furies attacked, and I took it with me."

"Well, where's your car?" Paige asked.

"Parked in front of the Manor," Henry told her. "Tell Piper that your purse is on the floor of the passenger seat, and my car keys are sitting on the table in the foyer."

"I heard," Piper told her. "We'll get your purse to you in a minute."

"Thanks," Paige said, gratefully.

She hung up the phone as they stepped onto the elevator, and a few seconds after the doors slid shut, a bright white light filled the small space. When the light cleared, Andy was standing in the middle of the elevator car with Paige's purse in his hands.

"Here," he told her, handing her the purse. "Piper and Prue will be here in about half an hour. They've got some things to get ready before your wedding."

"What kind of things?" Paige asked, suspiciously.

"With those two?" Andy said, with a wry smile. "Anything's possible."

"Should I be worried?" Paige asked Henry, as Andy orbed away.

"Nah," Henry said, with a shrug. "What's the worst that could happen?"

Paige just shook her head, ruefully. When the elevator stopped on the first floor, they headed for the county clerk's office. And forty-five minutes later, they walked out with their marriage license.

"So, now we just have to find someone to officiate," Paige said, and Henry reached out to take the marriage license from her.

"Tyler and I will take care of that," he reassured her. "You go talk to your sisters."

He nodded to where Piper and Prue had just walked into the courthouse, Piper with a dress bag slung over her arm. Prue waved quickly to get her attention, and Paige crossed the lobby to where her sisters were standing.

"What is that?" Paige asked, nodding at the dress bag, but her sisters just took her by the arms and started steering her toward the restroom down the hall.

"You'll see," Prue told her, mysteriously.

The restroom was empty when they entered, and Piper hung the dress bag from a coat hook on the wall. She unzipped the bag and pulled a lacy, ivory wedding dress that made Paige gasp in amazement.

"That's beautiful," she murmured, brushing her fingers lightly over the delicate material.

"It was Mom's dress," Piper told her, with a small smile. "Prue and I thought that you should get to wear it, today."

"Oh, Piper, I can't-" Paige protested, automatically, but Piper cut her off with an upraised hand.

"You cannot get married in the same clothes that you vanquished demons in," she said, sternly. "It's a family rule."

"Since when?" Prue asked, with a laugh.

"Since now," Piper told her. "Come on," she encouraged Paige. "Try the dress on."

Paige stripped out of her work clothes, folding up the jeans and blouse, neatly and setting them on the counter. Then, she slipped the dress on, adjusting the skirt as it fell to the floor.

"A perfect fit," Prue told her, helping her settle the dress where it lay on her shoulders.

"All right," Piper said, passing Paige a small bag. "Makeup and other essentials; Prue and I will be right back."

"Should I be concerned about whatever you two are up to?" Paige asked, suspiciously, but all she got from her sisters was a pair of bright smiles as they disappeared out of the door.

"And to think," Paige muttered to the empty room, "my life used to be so simple."

Standing in front of the mirror, she started carefully working on her makeup, but she had to stop when an unexpected burst of tears filled her eyes, blinding her. Paige hastily wiped the tears from her eyes, sniffing slightly.

"I'm getting married," she said to her reflection, a catch in her voice. "I'm in love, and I'm getting married."

She could hardly believe it, even saying the words out loud didn't seem real. But, the reality of the situation hit her suddenly when she glanced down at her watch, and saw how little time she had left. Muttering quietly under her breath, Paige looked in the mirror, again, to keep working on her makeup, but her vision was still blurry, and she could barely see her own reflection. Then she blinked, and suddenly she wasn't standing in the courthouse restroom, any longer.

_She was sitting in front of her vanity, doing her makeup, when a swirl of bright lights filled the room behind her. Paige whirled around, a smile breaking out over her face when Sam materialized in the middle of her bedroom. _

_"You made it," she said, happily, and her father nodded. _

_"I'm not going to miss my only daughter's wedding," he told her, and Paige moved forward to wrap her arms around him in a hug. _

_"I'm glad you're here," she told him. "I can't wait for you to meet Henry."_

_"From everything you've told me," Sam said, "he sounds like a good man."_

_"He is," Paige reassured him. "He's the best."_

_"Oh," Sam said, suddenly, pulling a small box out of his pocket. "I have something for you."_

_He opened the jewelry box and held it out to her, and Paige gently lifted the delicate necklace from the box with slightly shaky fingers. _

_"This is beautiful," she breathed. _

_"I gave that to Patty when we found out that she was pregnant with you," Sam told her, and Paige could feel tears spring to her eyes. "She wanted me to give it to you."_

_At Sam's gesture, Paige turned around, lifting her hair off the back of her neck so that he could fasten the necklace around her neck. _

_"It suits you," Sam said, smiling at her. "Paige, you look beautiful."_

_"I can't believe that this is really happening," Paige told him. "I'm really getting married."_

_"I have something else for you, too," Sam told her, and Paige looked at him in surprise. _

_"What could you possibly-" she started, but then she trailed off when Patty and her adoptive parents materialized in the middle of the room._

_"Hello, sweetheart," Christine Matthews said, and Paige choked back a sob as she hugged her mother._

_"We can't stay long," Andrew warned her. "But, Sam got permission for us to pop down here for a few minutes, to see you."_

_"I can't believe this," Paige said, as she hugged her father, hard. "I never thought you'd get to see this day."_

_"We are so proud of you, honey," Andrew told her. "Our little girl is getting married."_

_"I wish you could be there," Paige told her parents. "But, you'd probably freak out Henry's guests."_

_"We'll be watching," Christine told her, smiling warmly. "We're always watching over you, sweetheart."_

_Then, she and Andrew both looked up at the ceiling, as though listening to a distant summons. _

_"We have to go," Christine said, apologetically, and Paige nodded, wrapping her arms around her parents in a final hug._

_"I love you," she said, her voice choking up with emotion. "I love you both, so much."_

_"We love you, too," Andrew told her, his voice echoing slightly as he and Christine disappeared. _

_"I know that wasn't very long with them," Sam said, but Paige shook her head, smiling. _

_"It was perfect," she reassured him. "Thank you so much, Dad."_

_Then, she turned to Patty, wrapping her arms around her mother as the older woman hugged her. _

_"My baby," Patty murmured, quietly. "Look at you."_

_"I love you, Mom," Paige said, feeling her voice choke up, again. "I'm so happy you're here."_

_"I've missed so much in your life," Patty said, a note of regret in her voice as she pulled away, but Paige shook her head, stopping her in the middle of her sentence. _

_"You and Dad did what you had to, to protect me," Paige reminded her. "And I wouldn't have given up that life for all the magic in the world."_

_"And we have the chance, now, to get to know our daughter," Sam told Patty, reaching out to hug both women. _

_A moment later, he looked up at the ceiling, frowning slightly as a faint jingle filled the air. _

_"Go," Paige told him, before he could say anything. "Take care of your charges, and I'll see you at the party, afterward."_

_Sam nodded, orbing away. A few moments later, Patty also disappeared, leaving Paige standing alone in her bedroom. She stared after her parents with a sad smile on her face, and then she turned back to the makeup spread out on her vanity, whistling 'Going to the Chapel' softly under her breath. _

Paige gasped as the memory ended, staggering slightly as she held onto the sink in front of her to keep her balance. She could feel wetness on her face, and when she lifted a shaky hand, she wiped tears away from her eyes.

"I miss you, Mom and Dad," she whispered, quietly, and she almost thought that she could feel a ghostly hand on her shoulder at the words.

Then, she whirled around when she saw a swirl of bright lights reflected in the mirror. The lights disappeared, leaving Sam standing in front of her, and Paige felt a shaky smile spread across her face.

"Dad," she said, a burst of emotion rushing through her.

Sam didn't say anything; he just moved forward, unsteadily, his steps labored and shaky. Alarmed, Paige moved to meet him, and then Sam collapsed into her arms with a quiet groan.

"Dad?" she said, panicked, and then she saw the Darklighter's arrow protruding from the back of his shoulder…


	22. Chapter 22

**Author's Note: **I'm sorry that this chapter took so long to get up; it just didn't want to be written. Thanks to everyone who's been reading and reviewing, I love hearing what everyone thinks.

**Chapter Twenty-Two**

"Hey, Henry, can I ask you a question?"

Tyler had an unusually serious look on his face, and Henry wondered what was up. The boy had seemed excited earlier about him and Paige getting married; now he was wondering if Tyler was having second thoughts.

But, the boy surprised him, like he'd been doing for the past few days.

"You and Paige aren't from around here, are you?" Tyler asked, with a careful look around at the few people lingering in the lobby of the courthouse.

"What do you mean?" Henry asked, confused, and Tyler worried at his lip with his teeth as he tried to think of what to say.

"When you asked Paige to marry you," he said, hesitantly, "Paige asked you if you two loved each other. In the future," he hissed, the last word quiet to keep people from hearing him.

"Ah," Henry said, as comprehension dawned.

He steered Tyler to a secluded corner where they were likely to be overheard, leaning against the wall as he tried to think of how to phrase his answer.

"Paige and I," he finally answered, "travelled back in time from the year two thousand and six. We came back to save her sisters' lives."

"Wow," Tyler said, clearly impressed. Then, he frowned, and asked, "But, why wait five years? Why not come back a couple of weeks after whatever happened, and change things then? Wouldn't that have been easier?"

"Paige was right," Henry told him, with a wry grin. "You're a pretty smart kid. And yes," he continued, before Tyler could say anything, "to answer your question, it would have been a lot easier, and was exactly what we were trying to do, to save her sisters who had died that evening. But, the spell – something went wonky, and the next thing we knew, we were five years in the past."

"What you were trying to fix," Tyler asked, "did you?"

"With any luck," Henry said, "we've prevented it from ever happening in the first place."

"So, if you've stopped it," Tyler said, quietly, "does that mean you're going back to the future that you came from?"

The flash of realization hit him like a ton of bricks, but rather than answer, Henry reached out and pulled Tyler to him in a tight hug.

"Paige and I may not have gone back to when we intended," he said, fiercely. "But, we ended up exactly where we needed to be."

"You're staying?" Tyler asked, a hopeful note in his voice. "You're not going to leave?"

"Fire-breathing demons couldn't drag me away," Henry reassured him, but Tyler pulled away with a slightly alarmed look in his eyes.

"They breathe _fire_?" he demanded, incredulously, and Henry chuckled.

"It's an expression," he said. "A poorly-phrased one, apparently, but, still, just an expression."

"Good," Tyler said, visibly relieved. "Cause, throwing energy balls, I can handle. But breathing fire is just not fair."

"Nothing the demons do is fair," Henry told him. "Now, come on. You and I have some work to do before the wedding."

Twenty minutes later, he'd managed to get a minister to officiate the wedding, the same woman who'd married him and Paige the first time around, not that she'd know that. He'd known the older woman for years; she ran a youth group that he'd gotten many of his younger parolees involved in, and he'd cultivated a close relationship with her. Which was probably the only reason he'd been able to convince her to officiate his wedding at the last second.

Now, he was on the phone, trying to get a best man. His best friend, Ryan, answered on the third ring, sounding distracted as he spoke. Henry grinned, imagining the look on his face when he heard the news.

"Hey, man, it's Henry," he said, and Ryan offered a preoccupied greeting, his mind clearly focused on something else.

"What's up, Mitchell?" Ryan asked.

"Oh, nothing much," Henry told him. "I didn't have anything else to do, tonight, so I figured I'd get married. Want to be my best man?"

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line, and then, "Tell me it's not Amanda. Because that road is only going to lead to heartbreak, man."

"It's not Amanda," Henry assured him, and he could hear Ryan sigh with relief.

"So, who?" he asked. "That social worker that you haven't been able to shut up about for the past two days?"

"Yeah," Henry told him. "She's it, Ryan. She's the one."

"Is there any point in my reminding you that you've only known this woman for less than a week?" Ryan pointed out.

"Not really," Henry told him.

"All right, then," Ryan said. "Sure, I'll be your best man."

"We're at the courthouse," Henry told him. "Wedding's in about half an hour. Don't be late."

"Hey," Ryan said, before he could hang up, "Do you have a tux?"

"No," Henry answered, and he could practically hear Ryan's eyes rolling.

"Do you love this woman?" the other man asked.

"Of course I do," Henry replied, automatically.

"Then, you are not getting married in a pair of jeans," Ryan told him, flatly. "My grandfather's shop is near the courthouse; I'll pick you up a tux and you can return it in the morning."

"Do you think you can dig up a kid's-size tux at the same time?" Henry asked, glancing over at Tyler.

"You certainly don't ask a lot, do you?" Ryan muttered. "All right, how tall is the kid?"

"Five feet, give or take a couple of inches," Henry told him.

"I'll see you in twenty," Ryan replied, and then he hung up.

Fifteen minutes later (and Henry didn't even want to know how fast the other man had been driving to get across town that fast) he and Tyler were in the men's room changing into their borrowed tuxes under Ryan's critical gaze.

"This isn't going to be a perfect fit," Ryan warned, but Henry thought that the other man had done a pretty good job of it.

"I don't know," he disagreed, looking himself over in the nearby mirror. "Mine fits me pretty well. And so does Tyler's."

"Yeah, it feels comfortable," the boy agreed with him, tugging on the jacket.

"Looks like you're set, then," Ryan told him, making a few, nearly-invisible alterations to the way the jacket hung on his shoulders. "Ready to get married?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," Henry told him, a jolt of excitement running through him at the words. "I'll be out there in a second," he added, as Ryan and Tyler started for the door.

"Five minutes, and then I come looking for you," Ryan threatened, and then he and Tyler disappeared out the door.

Alone in the bathroom, Henry took a deep breath to calm the butterflies that had sprang up in his stomach. He couldn't figure out why he was so nervous. He hadn't felt like this even before his first wedding; by now, everything should be old hat. But, that didn't do anything to quell the anxiety.

"This is it," he told his reflection, solemnly. "The first day of the rest of my life."

Taking another deep breath, he turned to leave the bathroom. But, he was stopped by a swirl of bright white lights out of the corner of his eye. Turning back around, he watched the lights fade, leaving a small box sitting on the edge of one of the sinks.

He picked up the box, carefully unfolding the note that was attached to the top.

_'I thought you could use these,'_ the note read. _'Congratulations and good luck – Sandra.'_

Curious, Henry took the top off the small box, and then a smile spread across his face as he saw his and Paige's wedding rings resting on a cushion inside. He'd thought the rings had been lost, forever, but it looked like Sandra had been able to save them.

Closing the box back up, he tucked it away carefully in his pocket to give to Ryan before the ceremony. Then, he headed out to Paige – to his future.


	23. Chapter 23

**Author's Note: **This chapter takes place at the same time as the last one. Thank yo so much to everyone who's been reading and reviewing; I love hearing what everyone thinks.

**Chapter Twenty-Three**

Paige staggered as all of Sam's weight collapsed on her, and she lowered the gravely-injured Whitelighter to the floor of the restroom as gently as she could. Sam barely stirred as she moved him, and she was starting to get worried.

"Andy!" she hissed, but there was no answer, and she wondered if the Whitelighter could even hear her.

_'Guess I'm on my own, then,'_ she thought, after a second call went unheeded.

For a second, she considered leaving the restroom to find her sisters, but a pained, choked moan from Sam had her quickly changing her mind. If she left her father, now, he might not be alive when she got back.

Instead, she turned her attention back to Sam – and the incredibly lethal arrow jutting up from his back. Carefully, she reached out and grasped the arrow's shaft, well above the poison-tipped point. Leaning forward, she braced herself on the floor and set her knee against Sam's shoulder to keep him from moving.

Then, she took a deep breath and yanked the arrow out of his back before she could lose her courage.

Beneath her, Sam jerked like he'd just been electrocuted, his breath coming out in a sharp, ragged gasp. A dark bloodstain started swiftly spreading across the back of his shirt, and Paige instinctively pressed her free hand against the wound, holding pressure on it to stop the bleeding.

With her other hand, she threw the arrow away from her and Sam. As the arrow flew through the air, she twitched her fingers and watched in satisfaction as the arrow burst into flames, falling to the floor as a shower of fine, gray ash.

"So, the old man's found himself a protector, has he?" a sneering voice spoke up from behind her, and Paige twisted around in shock to see a Darklighter smirking at her. "You might as well give up, witch," the Darklighter continued, a smug tone in his voice. "I'm just going to finish him off, anyway, and if you give him to me without a fight, I might let you live."

Paige's eyes narrowed as she glared at the Darklighter, sparks of lightning flying around her hands as she fought to contain her fury.

"Go to Hell," she snarled. "You're not touching him."

"Guess I'll just have to kill you, too, then," the Darklighter said, casually, and with a flick of his wrist, he summoned his crossbow, pointing it straight at her heart.

Paige snapped her hand out without thinking, and a burst of wind slammed into the Darklighter. It drove him backward and pinned him against the door, and the Darklighter struggled futilely against the force of the wind, unable to even lift the crossbow he still held in his hands. From the other side of the door, she heard a muffled curse, and she realized that she'd just inadvertently blocked someone from coming into the room.

"What the hell?" a woman's voice exclaimed, anger evident in her tone. "Come on, unlock the door!"

"You don't want to come in here," Paige called back, not letting her attention wander from the Darklighter for an instant as she kept him pinned by the winds that she generated. "Someone got sick all over the floor; it's a real mess in here."

"The next bathroom is three floors up," the woman whined, and Paige wondered what the woman would think if she knew that finding a bathroom was the least of her worries.

"Sorry, can't help it," she said, instead. "It's disgusting in here. Trust me; you do not want to see this."

There was some indistinct grumbling, but the woman finally left, her heels making a sharp retort on the tile floor as her footsteps faded in the distance. Paige breathed a quick sigh of relief, still keeping a sharp eye on the captive Darklighter who was still struggling against her hold.

"Give up, witch," the Darklighter growled at her. "You can't hold me here, forever."

"Maybe not," Paige admitted, and something like triumph snuck into the Darklighter's expression. "But," she added, before he could get cocky, "I don't have to hold you here, not when I can just vanquish you."

Taking a chance, she lifted her other hand from Sam's back and snapped her fingers. A sharp retort rang through the bathroom, and a thin bolt of white-hot lightning left her fingers to strike the Darklighter in the chest. The Darklighter stared at her in shock, and then at the festering burn on his chest.

Paige flicked her hand out, throwing another bolt of lightning, and this one incinerated the Darklighter. His crossbow fell to the floor, but she lit it on fire before it even touched the tile. The world spun a little bit in front of her eyes from the effort she'd expended, but she quickly shook off the dizzy feeling.

Turning her attention back to Sam, Paige held her hands gingerly over the wound on his back. The sight of so much blood was almost overwhelming, and she closed her eyes, taking a deep breath to center herself.

_"Let his power to heal flow through you."_

The distant words sparked a memory, and Paige opened her eyes. Reaching out, she grasped Sam's hand in her own, placing her free hand over his wound. Biting her lip, nervously, she concentrated, and slowly the bloody wound started to heal. She almost cheered before she realized how sluggishly the wound was really healing – and then little black dots started swimming in her field of vision.

_'No,'_ she thought, fiercely, bearing down and forcing more magic through her hands. _'I will not pass out. Not while Dad is still in danger.'_

Somehow, she found the strength to keep going, and finally the wound sealed shut, leaving unmarked skin on Sam's back. Paige felt a moment of triumph as Sam slowly lifted his head, looking groggily around the small space. Then, she suddenly found herself slumped over on the floor, barely able to keep herself from completely collapsing.

She could hear Sam talking to her, but she could barely make out what he was saying. She was having a hard enough time just staying conscious. And she was swiftly losing the battle.

Then, she felt a pair of hands grip her shoulders tightly, and a burst of warmth rushed through her. When she opened her eyes, she saw Sam crouched in front of her, a worried expression on his face.

"Are you all right?" he asked, anxiously, his hands still resting on her shoulders.

"Yeah, I – I'm fine," Paige said, even though she still felt a little shaky. "I guess I fell over."

"You almost passed out," Sam said, bluntly. "Although, I don't know what the Elders are doing sending a novice Whitelighter out if you can't even heal another Whitelighter without draining yourself to do it."

"The Elders didn't really have anything to do with it," Paige told him, wryly.

With Sam's help, she got back on her feet, breathing a quiet sigh of relief when nothing started spinning around her. Once she was securely on her feet, Sam let go of her arms, looking around with a confused look on his face.

"Where are we?" he asked, clearly baffled. Then, looking back at her, he added, "And why are you in a wedding dress?"

"We're in the women's restroom of the county courthouse in San Francisco," Paige told him. "And I'm in a wedding dress because I'm getting married in less than twenty minutes."

"Why is a Whitelighter getting married?" Sam asked, and Paige grinned.

"Well, I'm not exactly a Whitelighter, yet," Paige answered. "And, I'd think that you of all people would understand falling in love," she added. "Dad."

Sam's eyes went wide as he took in her words, and Paige found herself waiting anxiously for his reaction. The older man just stared at her for several endless seconds, clearly too shocked to say anything.

"Paige?" he finally whispered, his voice coming out shaky, and Paige nodded, feeling tears prick at the corners of her eyes.

Then, to her surprise, Sam lurched forward, wrapping his arms around her in a tight hug. Paige wrapped her arms around him, letting her head fall onto his shoulder as she held on. She could feel Sam shaking in her arms, and she realized that he was crying.

"When I orbed away from the Darklighter," he choked out, "I must have found you instinctively. Just like I could always find Patty."

"I'm glad you did," Paige told him. "You might have died, otherwise."

Pulling away, suddenly, Sam looked around the room with a slightly panicked look on his face.

"The Darklighter," he started, but Paige cut him off.

"I vanquished him right before I healed you," she told him. "Which," she admitted, sheepishly, "is probably why I almost passed out."

"You have your witch _and_ your Whitelighter powers?" Sam asked, clearly surprised, and Paige nodded. "How long?" he asked.

"Um, about a day," Paige said, after thinking about it for a moment.

"A day?" Sam asked, incredulously. "You've only had your powers a day, and you're already vanquishing demons?"

"Well, isn't that what witches are supposed to do?" Paige asked, dryly.

"At the risk of sounding like I'm lecturing you," Sam said, "allow me to point something out. Using your powers takes energy and endurance. Things you aren't going to have built up the first day you have your powers."

"That makes sense," Paige said. "It's like learning to run; you don't go from being a couch potato to running a marathon your first time out."

"Exactly," Sam said, nodding. "How many times have you used your powers, today?"

"I kind of lost count," Paige admitted. "I mean, there were my experiments at work, this morning, and then the fight with the Furies, and then the demons who took Tyler, and then the Darklighter, just now-"

"You are definitely Patty's daughter," Sam said, cutting her off. "She was always diving into things headfirst without thinking about what she was doing."

"Apparently, it's a family trait," Paige told him. "Prue and Piper seem to do the same thing."

"You've met your sisters?" Sam asked, surprised. "You certainly don't do things by halves, do you?"

"That's actually a really long story," Paige told him.

She was about to say more, but then she caught sight of her reflection in one of the mirrors, and she went pale.

"Oh, god, Mom's dress," she breathed, as she took in the dark bloodstain on the skirt. "Prue and Piper are going to kill me."

"No, they're not," Sam told her, coming up behind her.

Reaching out, he held his hand over the dark stain, and his hand glowed with a soft, golden light. Then, to Paige's amazement, the stain shrank and disappeared.

"What the-" she demanded, and Sam chuckled at the baffled look on her face.

"Sometimes," he told her, "we can heal broken things, as well as people. In this case, a ruined wedding dress."

"That's amazing," Paige told him, flatly.

"I should probably get going," Sam said, suddenly, and Paige twisted around to look at him in surprise.

"What?" she demanded, incredulously. "Why?"

"You have your wedding to go to," Sam started, hesitantly.

"Yeah, and I'd like my father to be there with me," Paige told him.

"Why would you want that?" Sam asked, and Paige thought she heard a bitter undertone to his voice. "I abandoned you as a baby, why would you even want me around, now?"

"You and Mom did the only thing you could," Paige insisted, grabbing Sam's arm when he tried to turn away from her. "You didn't abandon me," she continued, firmly. "You gave me up to protect me."

"I couldn't protect you," Sam muttered. "I never could."

"What are you talking about?" Paige asked, and then she remembered why Sam had seemed so familiar to her, outside of that earlier memory flash. "Wait a minute, you're the sad-eyed man."

When she was a kid, Paige had convinced herself that she'd had a guardian angel. That angel had saved her from getting hit by a car when she was three, had taken her to the hospital after she'd fallen out of a tree and broken her leg when she was nine, and had been in the background of her life for as long as she could remember.

And he'd always been a sad-eyed older man. The same man who was standing in front of her, now.

She'd never told anyone about her guardian angel, wanting desperately to keep him a secret. But, she had notebooks full of sketches that she'd done from memory, the drawings getting better and better as she got older.

She'd also drawn all of the times that she'd remembered seeing the older man. Except for the last time, which, even now, was simply too painful. But, she remembered every detail with crystal clarity.

It had been the day of the car accident. One second, she'd been arguing with her parents, saying things that she'd never forget, or forgive herself for. The next second, she'd somehow been thrown from the car, watching in horror as the truck slammed into her parents' car, head-on, with her parents still inside.

She remembered screaming, remembered struggling to get back to the car, to her parents. And she also remembered the man who held her back, who'd kept her from going back into the burning wreck.

He'd stayed with her while the police arrived and swarmed over the scene, while the ambulance roared up and the emergency techs looked her over before taking her to the hospital. He'd stayed with her at the hospital while she waited for Social Services.

He hadn't said anything other than a broken, heartfelt, "I'm so sorry," but he'd been a quiet, calming presence at her side. He'd been a rock, a shoulder to cry on when the reality of the situation finally pierced the shocked state she'd fallen into and she'd broken down sobbing.

Then he'd disappeared, and she hadn't seen him since. Not until today.

Paige looked at Sam, who was still staring at her with a lost, haunted look on his face. Then, in a move that clearly surprised him, she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug.

"You have saved my life more times than I can even count," she told him, resting her head on her father's shoulder. "You've always been there for me, looking out for me-"

"I couldn't just walk away," Sam choked out, as he stood stiffly in her arms. "You're my daughter; I just couldn't leave you."

"And I'd probably be dead, now, if not for you," Paige said, still holding on. "I used to call you my guardian angel; I never knew you really were."

"I couldn't protect you," Sam insisted, bitterly. "Not when you really needed me."

"The accident wasn't your fault," Paige told him, firmly, surprising even herself with the words. "It wasn't my fault, it wasn't anyone's fault. It was an _accident_; and nothing that either of us could have done would have prevented it."

"Why don't you hate me?" Sam asked, a plaintive note in his voice.

"I spent too much time hating you for something I didn't fully understand," Paige answered, softly. "But, I just can't do that, anymore. Not when I think I finally understand the pain you must have been in."

Sam was silent for several long moments, then, finally, he relaxed into her embrace. Hesitantly, he wrapped his arms around her waist, holding on tighter as he buried his face in her shoulder.

"I want you with me at my wedding," Paige told him, her voice muffled against his shoulder. "I want you to meet your future son-in-law and your grandson."

"I-" Sam started, but Paige wasn't going to give him the chance to finish.

"Please," she asked, quietly, as she pulled away to look him in the eye. "Will you walk me down the aisle, Dad?"

Finally, Sam nodded, and Paige beamed at him.

"I love you," she told him, and the older man looked like he was blinking back tears.

"I love you, too," he responded. "And, I've missed you so much."

"I'm not going anywhere," Paige told him.

Sam nodded, the haunted look finally leaving his eyes, to be replaced by something that looked like peace.

"Let's go get you married," he said, quietly.


	24. Chapter 24

**Author's Note: **Thank you so much to everyone who's been reading and reviewing. This chapter is dedicated to **FaithInHim4ever**, who listened to my semi-disjointed rambling about the story and still wants to read it. ;)

**Chapter Twenty-Four**

Paige and Sam left the bathroom, an older lady giving both of them a suspicious glare as they passed her. Even Sam's weak attempt at a charming smile didn't faze the woman, and they quickly moved away from her and down the hallway.

Halfway down the hallway, they ran into Tyler, who was leaning against the wall, tugging at the suit jacket he was wearing. But, he stopped fussing with it when he saw Paige, a bright smile spreading across his face.

"Wow," he said when he saw her. "You look awesome, Paige."

"You don't look too bad, yourself," Paige told him, hugging the boy. "Where'd the tux come from?"

"Henry's best man," Tyler told her. "Oh, man, Paige, wait until you see the room," he went on, practically babbling, he was so excited. "It's all decked out – you're not going to believe it."

"Well, let's not keep everyone waiting," Paige said, and Tyler tucked his hand into the crook of her arm to escort her the rest of the way down the hallway.

When they reached the conference room where Henry, Piper, and Prue were waiting, Tyler pushed the door open with a dramatic flourish. Then, he looked back to see her reaction.

Paige was impressed. Her sisters had managed to take an empty conference room and transform it into a wedding hall. Flowers decorated every available surface, there was white gauze draped over the table at the front of the room, and the lights had been dimmed, with tall, white pillar candles lighting up the room.

Henry stood at the front of the room, with a dark-haired man in a suit standing beside him. Her sisters stood a short distance away, both of them holding small bunches of flowers. Tyler passed her a similar bouquet from a vase beside the door, and Paige took the long-stemmed lilies from him with a watery smile.

"I can't believe this," she murmured, and beside her, Sam smiled at her.

"You ready?" he asked, offering her his arm as Tyler dashed down the makeshift aisle to stand beside Henry.

Looking down the aisle, Paige met Henry's eyes, and she was sure that the beaming smile on his face matched her own.

"I'm ready," she answered, never taking her eyes off Henry.

Tucking her hand into his elbow, she moved down the aisle with Sam at her side. They stopped in front of the minister and Sam dropped a quick kiss on her cheek before he moved to stand beside her sisters.

"You look beautiful," Henry told her, quietly, sparking a memory of having heard the words, before.

"And you look very handsome," she told him, echoing the words that she'd spoken a lifetime ago.

"I was surprised when Henry told me he was getting married, especially so suddenly." Paige looked over at the minister standing in front of them, smiling when she recognized the older woman. "But, I was very happy to hear who he was marrying."

"I didn't know you did weddings, Carol," Paige said, pleasantly surprised.

She'd met the older woman a couple of years, ago, when a couple of kids from work had gotten involved in the youth group she ran. Paige had been impressed by the woman's setup, and she'd volunteered weekends to helping the older woman out.

"I don't often perform weddings," Carol answered. "But, I couldn't very well refuse two of my favorite people." Raising her voice so that everyone in the room could hear her, she added, "Shall we get started?"

Paige moved closer to Henry, clasping the hands that he held out to her, never taking her eyes off him.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here, today," she heard Carol's quiet voice, "to join Henry and Paige in holy matrimony."

Paige lost herself in the quiet cadence of Carol's voice, listening with half an ear to the traditional words of the wedding ceremony. The rest of her attention was focused on the man in front of her, the man who was her future.

When prompted, Henry recited his vows, a declaration of love and devotion that moved her to tears. Her own vow, promising to love him to the end of time, had him blinking at her in surprise, his own eyes suspiciously wet.

Then, Carol asked for the rings.

Paige didn't know what to expect until Tyler opened the small wooden box that he held in his hands, a glint of gold resting on a cushion inside. She gasped as Tyler passed her the ring that she was supposed to slip onto Henry's finger, taking the slim gold band with slightly shaky fingers.

"With everything that's happened," she said, quietly, "I thought these would have been lost."

"We've got some people looking out for us," Henry told her, and then he slipped her wedding ring onto her finger. "I do," he murmured, quietly.

"I do," Paige echoed, putting his ring on his finger. "Forever."

"You may now kiss the bride," Carol told them, and she and Henry embraced to the whistles of her sisters.

Then, as she pulled away, she caught a glance at the clock over his shoulder.

"It's almost seven-thirty," she said, flatly, and Henry twisted around to stare at the clock.

"Time to go," he declared, and with copious apologies to Sam, Carol, Ryan, and her sisters, they dashed out of the room, with Tyler between them.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Paige groaned with exhaustion as she pushed open the door to her apartment. Behind her, Henry flipped the light switch, flooding the room with light. He shuffled past her with his arm around Tyler's shoulders, keeping the yawning boy on his feet.

"Longest day ever," Paige declared, as she locked the door and stumbled across the room to fall heavily into the nearest chair.

"It's over, right?" Tyler asked, looking at her from where he was slumped over on the couch. "No one's going to try and make me leave, again?"

"You're ours," she told him, firmly. "We signed the custody papers, the adoption process has been started, and nothing is taking you away from us."

"Tomorrow's Saturday, right?" Tyler asked, barely able to stifle a yawn behind his hand.

"Yeah, it's Saturday," Henry confirmed, and at his words, Tyler flopped over on the couch.

"I'm gonna go to sleep and not wake up for a while," he mumbled, grabbing blindly at the blanket over the back of the couch.

"Go to sleep," Paige told Tyler, smoothing the blanket over him as she brushed a gentle kiss over his forehead. "Love you, kiddo."

"Love you, too," Tyler mumbled, and then he dropped off to sleep a heartbeat later.

Paige and Henry moved slowly down the hall, to Paige's bedroom, but Henry hesitated before he could enter.

"Um," he said, quietly, and Paige shook her head, reaching out to snag his arm and tug him into the room.

"We're married, now," she reminded him. "What's mine is yours, and all that."

"I just-" Henry stammered. "You've only known me a couple of days, and-"

"Oh, just sit down," Paige told him, giving him a gentle push toward the bed and watching him fall on top. "You look about as exhausted as I feel."

"Paige-" Henry protested, but she wasn't going to let him interrupt her.

"I've been remembering things," she told him, as she paced the length of the room, too keyed up to sit down. "Things about our life together, about the time before we came back from the future."

"But, that's not possible," Henry told her, clearly confused. "You didn't – she died-"

He broke off, unable to complete the sentence, but Paige knew what he'd been trying to say.

"Her soul merged with mine," she told him. "It wasn't perfect; I don't remember everything. But, the woman you fell in love with, she's in here, somewhere."

"I love you," Henry told her. "Not just the woman I met five years in the future, but the one I ran into in the hallway. The woman who fought for her family, who stood up to an army of demons and won, who said yes to the crazy guy who proposed to her-"

"Not that crazy," Paige told him, with a fond smile. "And, besides, I seem to remember telling you that I would always marry you."

"And you did," Henry said, quietly, watching her with a cautious look on his face. "Do you regret it?"

In answer, Paige spun around and crossed the room to where he was sitting. Bending down, she steadied herself with her hands on Henry's shoulders and then she kissed him. Henry's hands went to her waist, holding her in place as he deepened the kiss.

When they finally broke apart, both gasping slightly for air, Paige rested her forehead against Henry's, her eyes closed.

"I don't regret a thing," she told him. "I love you, and that's all that's important."

"So, what now?" Henry asked, as she moved back across the room and started carefully taking her mother's wedding dress off.

"Well," Paige said, her voice muffled by the layers of the dress as she tried carefully not to wrinkle it, "we definitely have to go apartment hunting. I don't know about your place, but we cannot fit three people into my apartment. Tyler can't keep sleeping on the couch; he deserves a room of his own."

"Apartment hunting it is," Henry said, as he flopped back on the bed. "And I think one of us needs to get a new car. Because neither of them are exactly family vehicles."

"Mine," Paige told him. "We can barely fit two people into it, comfortably, and I don't relish the thought of feeling like a sardine every time I have to drive somewhere."

Finally free of the dress, she hung it on a hanger and placed it carefully in her closet. Then, she grabbed her favorite, oversized sleep shirt from where it was draped over the handle of the closet door and pulled it on over her head.

"I don't suppose you've won the lottery, recently?" she asked, wryly, as she sat down beside Henry and stretched out beside him, laying her head on his shoulder. "Because we're going to need it."

"We'll figure something out," Henry told her, his jaw cracking in a yawn. "We always do."

"Are you tired?" Paige asked, as they lay there, staring up at the ceiling.

"Too tired to sleep," Henry replied. "I know that sounds weird-"

"Makes perfect sense to me," Paige said. After another few minutes of silence, she added, hopefully, "Will you tell me about yourself?"

"Let's see," Henry said, quietly. "Well, there's not a lot to tell. I grew up in foster care, bounced around a lot of different homes as a kid, and got in trouble as a teenager. My parole officer, Nick, turned my life around when I was fifteen; he was the one who inspired me to go into law enforcement. I've been at the job for five years, and the rest is history, really."

"I don't even know how old you are," Paige realized, after a moment of thinking about it.

"Twenty-five," Henry told her. "My birthday is July eighteenth."

"Coming up fast," she remarked.

"Yeah, the social workers didn't know exactly how old I was when I got to them," Henry replied. "They figured that I was a couple of weeks old, and they went backward from the day I was turned over to them."

"When was that?" Paige asked, curiously.

"August second, nineteen-seventy-seven," Henry said, sleepily.

In contrast, Paige was wide awake as she propped herself up on an arm to stare down at him in shock.

"August second," she echoed, flatly.

"Yeah, at some church over on Oakland Street," came the reply. "Saint something-or-other."

"St. Anthony's," Paige said, and Henry opened his eyes to look up at her.

"Yeah," he said. "How did you know?"

"I guess I never told you about my own adoption?" Paige asked him. "About where my parents left me when I was born?"

It took a second, but then Henry's eyes widened in comprehension as he stared at her in shock.

"You're kidding me," he said, stunned, and Paige shook her head.

"St. Anthony's, August second, a nun called Sister Agnes," she told him.

"That's – that's," Henry tried, but then he gave up on trying to say anything coherent. "That's really weird," he finally declared.

"Not so much," Paige decided. "Not with how the rest of my day has gone. I think that it's proof that magic has a strange sense of humor, though," she added. "I mean, why else would we keep running into each other like we have?"

"Maybe," Henry acknowledged. "Who knows? Maybe we're soul mates, living lifetimes together, over and over."

"Maybe you're tired," Paige told him, wryly. "I certainly am," she added, dropping her head back onto Henry's shoulder with a yawn.

She closed her eyes as Henry wrapped his arms around her, and she was asleep within seconds.


	25. Chapter 25

**Author's Note: **Thanks to everyone who's been reading and reviewing. I love hearing what everyone thinks.

**Chapter Twenty-Five**

Paige woke up the next morning to see Henry propped up on an elbow, looking at her with a fond smile on his face.

"What?" she asked, when he just smiled wider when he saw her awake.

"I love you," he said, simply, and Paige curled her hand around the back of his neck, pulling her new husband in for a deep kiss.

"I love you, too," she murmured, when they parted. "I had a dream, last night," she continued, as she lay back on the bed, snuggling into Henry's arms. "I think it was the first time we met."

"Oh, yeah?" Henry asked, curiously. "You mean with your charge, Speed?"

"I remember being really pissed at you," Paige told him. "And then you tried to hit me with your car."

"Oh, come on," Henry said, laughing. "I didn't hit you; I wasn't even close."

"And yet," Paige said, "I fell for you, anyway."

"Yeah, well," Henry said, "I guess I'm just a really charming guy."

"You're something, all right," Paige said, teasingly. "You know," she added, thoughtfully, "I think we were given more than just a second chance with each other."

"What do you mean?" Henry asked.

"My charges, your parolees," Paige told him. "All the Innocents we've lost over the years; we can save them."

"Act instead of react," Henry said, thinking the idea over. "Sounds like a pretty good plan."

"But, first," Paige said, sitting up and stretching. "Car shopping."

She shook her head, dreading the prospect. It wasn't finding a car that she didn't like, but the thought of spending so much money.

"Whoever said that love makes you richer must have been a millionaire," she said, wryly.

"That's why banks give people loans," came Henry's reply, and Paige laughed.

Disappearing into the bathroom, she showered quickly, wrapping a towel around her torso when she was done. She dressed while Henry showered, and then the two of them jockeyed for space in front of the mirror, dancing around each other in the cramped space.

"You sure you don't want to go looking for a new apartment, first?" Henry asked, dryly, as they kept bumping into each other.

"My car is even more crowded," Paige told him. "Besides, running into you isn't exactly a hardship."

"I need to run back to my place to grab some clothes," Henry told her, as he got dressed in the tux that he'd been wearing ever since the wedding the night before. "Be back in a few minutes."

Paige watched him duck out the front door, ruffling Tyler's hair on the way and getting a sleepy grin from the boy as he sat up on the couch. Tyler yawned hugely as he stood up and stumbled toward the bathroom, otherwise silent, and Paige headed for the kitchen.

Ten minutes later, she had her hands wrapped around a steaming cup of coffee, watching Tyler as he devoured a bowl of cereal.

"So, am I ever going to get to unpack my duffel bag?" Tyler asked, between bites.

"That's the plan," Paige told him. "We're going to get a bigger place, one where you can have your own room."

"Good, because that couch is tiny," Tyler told her, rolling the residual stiffness out of his shoulders.

"It won't be for much longer," Paige reassured him.

Then, she swatted at Henry's grasping hand as he tried to take the cup of coffee out of her hands.

"Get your own cup," she scolded him, curling protectively around the cup.

"What happened to 'what's mine is yours'?" Henry asked, teasingly.

"Coffee's the exception," Paige told him. "So," she continued, as he poured himself his own cup, "I was thinking that we could stop by my sisters' place before we start. I want to drop off Mom's wedding dress."

"Could we go to the street fair, too?" Tyler asked, hopefully. "I've never been."

"Sure, why not?" Paige said. "Finish eating, kiddo. We've got a busy day ahead of us."

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"Hello?" Paige called out, as she, Henry, and Tyler entered the Manor. "Anyone home? Piper? Prue?"

Her voice echoed through the big house to be greeted by silence. Then, Prue appeared on the landing in a flash of light to look down at them.

"We're up in the attic, Paige," she said, and then her astral form disappeared from the top of the stairs.

"Your new family is so weird," Tyler commented, as they went up the stairs to the attic.

"Says the boy who can light things on fire with his mind," Paige teased him.

"You're all strange, how about that?" Henry declared, as he threw his arms across both of their shoulders.

They entered the attic to find Prue and Piper bent over a small table in the middle of the attic. Piper was adding ingredients to the silver chalice in the center of the table while Prue lit the slim candles that ringed the outside of the table.

"What's going on?" Paige asked, curiously, as she watched her sisters work.

"It's a spell to find a lost witch," Piper told her, looking up briefly from the cauldron.

"For Phoebe," Paige realized, immediately.

"I know it's been nearly a week," Prue spoke up, quietly, as she finished lighting the candles. "And, God knows the spell hasn't worked before now, but we just can't give up."

Paige nodded, crossing the small room to stand beside her sisters at the table.

"What do I need to do?" she asked. When both Prue and Piper looked at her in confusion, she shrugged. "Maybe I'm not a Charmed One," she explained. "But, I am a Halliwell. And, maybe if the three of us say the spell-"

"It'll be enough to bring Phoebe back!" Piper finished for her, excitement in her voice.

"Well, all of the set up is done," Prue said, giving the table a quick once-over. "All that's left is to say the spell."

"Then, let's get our sister back," Paige declared, confidently.

Standing between Piper and Prue, she clasped hands with her sisters, looking down at the Book, quickly, to commit the spell to memory. Then, they started chanting in unison:

_"Powers of the witches rise, _

_Course, unseen, across the skies. _

_Come to us, who call you near. _

_Come to us, and settle here."_

They paused as Prue picked up a small knife from the table, pricking her finger and squeezing a couple of drops into the chalice. Piper, and then Paige, followed her, and then they picked up the spell, again.

_"Blood to blood, we summon thee._

_Blood to blood, return to me."_

The candles on the table flickered and died, as something blew them out. But, nothing else happened, and after a few seconds, Prue sighed, heavily. She dropped her sisters' hands, stalking away from them to stare out of the window. Piper was glaring down at the table, as though it had let her down, somehow. And Paige tucked her hands awkwardly in her pockets, not looking at either of her sisters.

"I'm sorry," she finally said, quietly. "Maybe, if I was stronger-"

"This isn't your fault," Piper said, quickly, her voice sounding suspiciously like it was choked up. "The spell is never going to work; we just need to accept that."

"You're saying that we should give up on Phoebe," Prue stated, flatly, from where she was still staring out of the window.

"I'm not saying that," Piper argued, hotly. "But, clearly, the spell hasn't worked any of the times that we've tried it. And, wherever Phoebe is, she either can't or won't come home on her own-"

"What about Leo?" Prue interrupted her, whirling around to glare at her younger sister. "You're just going to give up on him, too?"

"I'm not giving up on anybody!" Piper protested. "I'm just saying that what we're doing now isn't working!"

"Well, it's not like we have a lot of other options," Prue snapped, and then a sharp whistle cut through the air, cutting off whatever Piper was about to say in response.

"Back to your corners, both of you," Henry spoke up, from where he was leaning against the doorframe. "I've seen this family go through hell and back, together. I've seen you willing to die for each other. What I can't believe I'm seeing is the two of you sniping at each other like this."

Prue opened her mouth to say something, but Henry wasn't about to let her get a word in, edgewise.

"After everything you've faced, everything you've gone through, you're not going to let this break you apart," he said, moving further into the room. "You're both stronger than that."

"And I suppose you have some idea of how to find Phoebe?" Prue snapped, glaring at him. "As you may have noticed, none of our spells are working."

"If the traditional spells aren't working to find Phoebe," Henry said, bluntly, "then you'll find some other way. You always do."

"Now you see why I said yes," Paige said, into the silence that followed his statement. "It's kind of like facing down a force of nature."

"I see what you mean," Piper said. "But, we still don't have a way to find Phoebe or Leo. I mean, even if we invented some new spell, what would it even do?"

"I might be able to come up with something," Paige told her, as her sisters looked at her in surprise. "I can't promise that this is going to work, but-"

"But, nothing," Prue told her, firmly. "All we can do is try."

"Then," Paige said, determinedly, "here goes nothing."

She pulled the chalice toward her, studying the contents inside. Then, letting out a slow breath, she passed her hand over the chalice, watching as the contents burst into flames. Then, sending up a quick prayer that it wasn't about to blow up in her face, she started the spell that she'd hastily composed in her mind.

_"Give me sight in blessed fire;_

_Show me now my heart's desire._

_In this time and in this place, _

_Show to me my sister's face."_

The flames in the bowl flickered, and for a moment, she didn't think anything was going to happen. Then, the flames flared higher in the chalice, turning white-hot. And in the center of the flames, a picture was starting to form.

Forcing herself to breathe slowly and evenly as she kept a tight rein on the fire in the chalice, Paige stepped back enough to give Prue and Piper room to see the picture in the flames. Beside her, her sisters gasped in shock at the image of a young woman and a pair of men that flickered in the flames.

"Phoebe," Prue whispered, and Paige felt Piper clutch at her shoulder as she leaned closer.

"And that's Leo," Piper said, excitement in her voice. "And Cole. But, where are they?"

"Looks like the Underworld," Paige said, biting her lip in concentration as she tried to maintain the image in the flames.

The image flickered, and she clenched her fist, sending more magic into the flames. For a heartbeat, the image flared brightly, lighting up the room, and then she lost control of the magic, the flames dying down as quickly as she'd summoned them.

"Damn," she swore. "Sorry, I just couldn't hold it, any longer."

"That's more than we've managed in a week," Prue told her, squeezing her shoulders in a quick hug. "And, at least now we know that they're all right."

"But, how did they even get into the Underworld?" Piper asked, skeptically. "And how are we supposed to get them out?"

The three of them looked at each other for a moment, then as one, they yelled for Andy. The Whitelighter appeared in a swirl of bright lights, a slightly disoriented look on his face. Probably from having been yelled for by all of them.

"What's going on?" he asked, looking around the attic.

"We found Phoebe, Leo, and Cole," Prue told him, quickly. "They're in the Underworld."

"You have to go after them," Piper added, an urgent tone in her voice.

"Fine," Andy said. And before any of them could say anything, he added, "I'm going alone. It's safer that way."

Before anyone could protest, Andy orbed away, the lights of his orb trail fading away into nothingness.

"She'll be fine," Paige said, into the silence that followed. "Andy's going to bring everyone home, and they're going to be fine."

"And, in the meantime, we wait," Prue said, sounding frustrated. "I hate waiting."

"I'm going to go to the club," Piper decided, after a moment. "I just can't sit around here and not do anything."

"I guess work's as good a place as any," Prue grudgingly agreed. "Might as well keep busy."

"We need to get going, we've got a ton of things to do," Paige said, as they went downstairs. "You'll call me as soon as you know anything?"

"The second we find anything out," Piper promised her. "See you later, Paige. Oh, hey," she called out, stopping Paige before she could head out the door. "Those things you have to do? You wouldn't happen to be going near Chinatown anytime today?"

"We could," Paige said, with a glance over at Henry. "Did you need something?"

"Time to restock the potion cabinet," Piper told her. "I keep meaning to go, but I haven't been able to find the time, lately."

"Sure," Paige replied. "Just get me a list of what you need, and we'll pick it up for you."

"Thanks, sis," Piper said. "You're a lifesaver."

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Shopping around for a new car had been every bit as stressful as Paige had remembered it being. Which was probably why she'd stuck with the same car for so long.

They'd gone to three separate dealerships before they'd found a salesperson who'd talked to both of them, rather than just Henry. The others had all acted as though Paige was only there to choose the color of the car, a sentiment that had Paige quietly simmering with anger.

But, they'd finally found a dealership, and a car that she could afford. They'd even given her a decent trade-in on her old car. Still, it wasn't an experience that Paige was looking to repeat any time soon.

"Hopefully, it'll be a while before we have to do that, again."

From the frustrated tone of Henry's voice, he felt the same.

From the car dealership, they'd gone straight to the street fair, hoping to use the time to unwind. And it seemed like it was working. Paige could feel the stress draining away from her as the three of them walked down the blocked-off street, among the colorful tents that the vendors had set up.

"This was a good idea, Ty," Paige said, and, naturally, that was when all Hell broke loose.

She caught a flicker of something out of the corner of her eye, and she whirled around in time to see a huddled trio shimmer into the middle of the street. There was a moment of stunned silence, and then someone started screaming.

Swearing under her breath, Paige sprinted down the street, shoving people out of her way and ignoring the dirty looks it got her. She pushed through the crowd of people to see Phoebe crouched in the middle of the street, Leo and Cole lying on the ground beside her. There was a wild, panicked look in the other woman's eyes, and she had a hand held up defensively as the people that surrounded her started closing in.

Then, before Paige could do anything, everything froze. There was no movement, no sound, nothing. Without stopping to think about it, Paige darted forward to Phoebe's side, kneeling beside her startled sister.

"Phoebe, thank God," she said, unable to stop the smile that stretched across her face. "Don't worry," she said, quickly, when Phoebe just kept staring at her. "Everything's going to be fine."


	26. Chapter 26

**Author's Note: **Thanks so much to everyone who's been reading and reviewing. I love hearing what you think.

**Chapter Twenty-Six**

The panicked look on Phoebe's face wasn't going away. In fact, as she looked around at the people standing frozen around them, the expression was starting to get worse.

"Who are you?" she demanded, a hostile tone in her voice as she glared at Paige. "What did you do to all of these people?"

"Me?" Paige said, with a startled look around. "I didn't do this, Pheebs."

"Don't call me that," Phoebe snapped, jerking violently away from the hand that Paige laid on her arm. "Who the hell are you?"

"My name is Paige Matthews," she told the clearly startled woman. "And, I know that this is going to sound a little bit crazy, but I'm your sister."

If she was expecting Phoebe to light up at her pronouncement, or show any kind of excitement, she was going to be sorely disappointed. Instead, Phoebe stared at her like she'd just sprouted another head, shock visible on her face.

"What did you say?" she demanded, incredulously.

"I'm your sister," Paige repeated, patiently.

"That's not possible," Phoebe said, flatly, and Paige scowled, inwardly. Phoebe was supposed to be the easy one to convince.

"Actually, it is," she told her. "See, when our mom had an affair with her Whitelighter-"

Her explanation was abruptly cut short by the arrival of a pair of men in impeccable white suits, and Paige shot the taller of the two an aggravated look as she stood up to confront them.

"It's about damn time," she said, before either of the men could say anything. "What? You froze everything, and then just decided not to show up?"

"We were unavoidably delayed," the shorter man said, in a haughty tone. "Not that our business is any of your concern-"

"Considering everything that's happened," Paige snapped, "I think your business is my concern."

"You dare-" the taller man began, incredulously, but Paige wasn't about to let him finish.

"If the two of you had been doing your jobs the first time around, my sisters wouldn't have even gotten into this mess!" she growled. "When Prue and Piper were exposed vanquishing Shax, you should have been there to stop it. This never should have gotten as far as it did!"

"What – how do you know about Prue and Piper?" Phoebe demanded, but Paige was still focused on the Cleaners standing in front of her.

"Your purpose," she said, stabbing her finger into the taller man's chest, "your whole reason for being, is to cover up the exposure of magic. So, what the hell happened, last week? Where the hell were you?"

"We were created in response to the incident with the demon, Shax," the shorter Cleaner spoke up, and Paige looked over at him in surprise.

"Oh," was all she could think to say. "Well, that makes sense."

"The Elders decided that they could not risk another exposure of magic like that one," the taller Cleaner told her. "So they, along with several powerful demons, created us, and others, to deal with potential magical messes. Although, how you know about us, when only very few are aware we exist-"

"I've had dealings with you, before," Paige told them, to the men's surprised looks. "In another time; you wouldn't know about it."

"Well," the taller man said, a wry smile on his lips, "if you're done lecturing us, I believe we have a job to do, here."

"Yeah, sure, sorry," Paige said, apologetically. "Hey, could you unfreeze my husband for a second? I need to talk to him."

The shorter of the Cleaners huffed out an impatient sigh, but a quick wave of his hand had Henry staggering where he was standing, a startled look on his face. Seeing Paige, he hurried to her side, questions in his eyes.

"Honey, what's going on?" he asked, carefully, as he reached her side. "What's with the Mr. Clean team?"

"They're on our side," Paige reassured him. "Kind of. It's complicated."

"Everything is complicated, these days," Henry told her.

"You knew that when you married me," Paige reminded him, teasingly. "So, as you can see, Phoebe is back-"

"I see that," Henry replied. "Nice to see you safe, Phoebe. Love the hair."

"Anyway," Paige went on, interrupting him, "I'm going to get them out of here," she added, with a gesture that included the frozen Leo and Cole in her statement, "and the Cleaners are going to erase people's memories of seeing magic."

"Going back to the Manor?" Henry asked.

"Too far," Paige said, looking down at the frozen men, critically. "Once the Cleaners unfreeze everything, Leo and Cole are back to being in really bad shape. I need to get them healed, now."

Looking around for a place where they might be able to hide, she spotted a tent about a hundred yards away with a very familiar stylized symbol on the back.

"There," she said, pointing. "That tent with the Evil Eye."

"And you don't think the people inside are going to be a little suspicious of you appearing out of thin air?" Henry asked, skeptically.

"Madame Theresa will be fine," Paige said, hoping that her hastily-returned and somewhat hazy memories weren't playing tricks on her. "I'm more worried about Leo and Cole, right now."

"Right," Henry said. Leaning forward, he kissed her quickly and pulled away with, "Be careful."

"Always," Paige promised him.

As Henry moved back to where he'd been originally standing, Paige turned her attention back to Phoebe. Her sister had a deeply suspicious look on her face as she eyed Paige and the Cleaners.

"Who are you people?" she demanded, a little hysterically, which Paige figured was normal considering everything that had happened.

"I told you-" she started, and Phoebe cut her off with a disbelieving snort.

"Like I'm going to believe that," she said, scornfully, and Paige had to resist the urge to roll her eyes.

"I take it you're the one who shimmered everyone out of the Underworld?" she asked, instead, and Phoebe nodded warily.

"I switched powers with Cole," she began, but then she clamped down on the rest of her sentence, glaring at Paige.

"Can you get Cole to that tent over there?" Paige asked, nodding at Madame Theresa's tent. "I'll be right behind you with Leo."

"I'm not trusting you with him," Phoebe snapped, and Paige could see the beginnings of an energy ball forming at her fingertips as she hovered protectively over the injured Whitelighter.

Heaving an exasperated sigh, Paige grabbed Phoebe's wrist, startling her enough that the energy ball fizzled out before it had really formed.

"I'm not here to get into a pissing contest with you," she forced out between gritted teeth, her voice low so that Phoebe had to concentrate on her. "I am trying to protect my family. Now, will you please shimmer Cole into the tent so that we can get off the street?"

Phoebe stared at her for several seconds without backing down, and Paige was ready to grab all three of them and try orbing, anyway, just to get things moving. But, the taller Cleaner solved her problem for her, making Phoebe disappear with a wave of his hand.

"Thanks," Paige told him, but the man just looked impassively at her.

"Are you going to get on with it?" he asked, in a bored tone.

This time she did roll her eyes as she crouched down beside Leo and gripped his hand in hers. Then, just like she'd done when she healed Sam, she closed her eyes and focused on channeling his power. Orbing, this time, and a second later, she could literally feel herself start to disappear.

She was weightless for a heartbeat, and then the world came crashing back down on her as she reformed on the floor of the tent. Shaking her head to clear away the dizzy feeling, Paige steadied herself to keep from falling over.

As her head cleared, she looked around the tent. Madame Theresa was standing in front of the curtain that divided the front of the tent from the back, and there was a curious expression on the older woman's face. Before Paige could say anything, she ducked out of sight, returning a few seconds later with a first aid kit in her hands.

"To what do I owe the honor of a visit from Whitelighters?" she asked, her quiet voice melodic as she started treating Cole's wounds.

"Refuge, mostly," Paige answered, not correcting her misassumption. "I'm sorry for bursting in on you like this, but there was nowhere else that we could go."

Turning her attention back to Leo, Paige took a deep breath and squeezed that hand that she still held between her own. Then, focusing, she started healing his injuries, watching in satisfaction as the wounds slowly started to knit together. His injuries healed completely, not even leaving scars, and Paige grinned in triumph when Leo opened his eyes and sat up.

"What happened?" he asked, looking around. "Phoebe, where are we?"

"Ask Little Miss Know-It-All, there," Phoebe snapped, jerking her head in Paige's direction. "She seems to have all the answers."

"It's a long story," Paige said, when Leo looked at her, quizzically. "And, I will explain everything in time. But, first we need to heal Cole."

"He's half demon," Leo protested, even as he stood up and moved to the other man's side. "I can only heal his human half."

"Well," Paige said, "I'm half Whitelighter, and that should offset his demon half."

Leo looked like he was thinking about it for a few moments, and then he nodded.

"I guess it would work," he said, skeptically. "I mean, I've never tried anything like it."

"First time for everything," Paige told him, holding out her hand for Leo to take. "For you, anyway," she added, thinking about it. "Shall we?"

Leo took her proffered hand, but before they started, Paige dug in her pocket for her cell phone and tossed it to Phoebe.

"Call Piper and tell her that you're okay," she told her confused sister. "She's number two on my speed dial."

Then, she and Leo held their free hands over Cole's wounds. She relaxed, letting Leo take control of the healing, and slowly, Cole's injuries started to disappear. When he opened his eyes, groggily, Paige grinned and hugged a clearly startled Leo.

"We did it," she crowed in triumph.

Then, her attention was caught by Phoebe, who was still clutching her cell phone to her ear, talking quietly. Phoebe looked distressed about something, and she kept shooting Paige suspicious little glares as she talked. Then, without warning, she reached out and grabbed Cole's shoulder, shimmering them both away.

Paige stared at the spot where Phoebe had been standing, aware that she was gaping in stunned disbelief.

"That was my phone," she said, flatly.


	27. Chapter 27

**Author's Note:** So, apparently, buckets-o-crazy Phoebe was more fun to write than I thought. As always, thank you to everyone who's been reading and reviewing. You guys are amazing.

**Chapter Twenty-Seven**

One second she'd been standing in the middle of a frozen street, and the next second, she was standing in the middle of one of the brightly-colored tents, cardboard boxes pressing up against her back. She hadn't been the one to get them there, and she wasn't entirely sure how they'd gotten there in the first place, but she shrugged it off as unimportant in the face of other matters. Cole, for example, who was lying on the ground at her feet, and Phoebe kneeled down beside him as she checked him over.

Her fingers were gentle on his neck as she automatically checked for his pulse, her eyes scanning the rest of his body to assess the rest of his injuries. Thanks to a surprise attack before they'd managed to get out of the Underworld for good, both Leo and Cole had been severely injured. She'd managed to escape the attack, unscathed, although she still didn't know how.

Cole had taken an energy ball directly to the chest, the burn mark standing out vivid red and ugly against his skin. He looked like hell, his skin pale and his breathing heavily labored as he struggled just to get enough air. But, Phoebe supposed that they were lucky that he hadn't died, being attacked in his already weakened state.

And, Leo –

Phoebe looked around the small tent, suddenly, when she realized that Leo hadn't been transported into the tent with her and Cole. Which meant that he was still out there on the street, with that strange woman who'd claimed to be her sister.

_'Which is impossible,'_ she thought, angrily. _'I have two sisters, not three, and I don't know what this woman thinks she's trying to do-'_

Her thoughts were cut off, abruptly, by a flash of light in front of her. When the light cleared, the strange woman was crouched in the middle of the tent, with Leo lying on the ground in front of her. The woman had one of Leo's hands clasped in her own, and her hands started to glow.

Alarmed, Phoebe started toward the woman, ready to throw her away from Leo if she had to. But, to her surprise and confusion, Leo's wounds were healing, half-healed injuries sealing shut in front of her eyes. Then, Leo's eyes opened, slowly, and he looked around the tent, locking his eyes on hers.

"What happened?" he asked, slowly, as he sat up. "Phoebe, where are we?"

"Ask Little Miss Know-It-All, there," she snapped, feeling a surge of anger and resentment for the woman who'd been able to help Leo in mere seconds while she'd been helpless for days. "She seems to have all the answers."

"It's a long story," the woman said, a shy smile on her face as Leo looked over at her. "And I will explain everything, in time. But, first we need to heal Cole."

_'Leo can't heal Cole,'_ Phoebe thought, angrily, even as the Whitelighter protested to the same. _'He's half demon, and it isn't going to work.'_

But, the woman really did have the answers for everything, it seemed. Phoebe nearly snorted out loud when the woman claimed to be half Whitelighter, adding that it would help heal Cole.

_'Not only do you just happen to be my long-lost sister, but you're also half Whitelighter?'_ Phoebe thought, cynically, as she glared at the young woman. _'You're not fooling me for a second.'_

She was jerked out of her thoughts by something small flying at her. She fumbled the cell phone that the young woman had tossed to her, looking up in confusion.

"Call Piper and tell her you're okay," the woman told her. "She's number two on my speed dial."

Phoebe felt her mouth drop open in shock as she scrolled through the contact list on the woman's phone, seeing not only Piper's number, but Prue's as well.

_'Who does this woman think she is, trying to hone in on my life?'_ Phoebe seethed, feeling a new surge of fury rise up in her as she glared at the woman. _'Doesn't she have her own family that she could be bothering? Why mine?'_

But, she wasn't about to give the phone back. Not when she had the chance to talk to her sisters for the first time in nearly a week.

She dialed Piper's number and listened to the phone ring, waiting anxiously to hear her older sister's voice. Then, Piper answered, and it was like a bucket of cold water had been thrown in her face.

"Hey, Paige," Piper greeted, cheerfully, and Phoebe could feel her stomach twisting in knots at the other woman's name. "Did you find a new car?"

"Piper," Phoebe croaked out, and there was a stunned silence on the other end of the line.

"Phoebe?" Piper whispered, and her voice sounded choked up, like she was crying. "Pheebs, honey, is that you?"

"Piper," Phoebe repeated, dully, barely able to think now that she was finally talking to her sister.

"Where are you?" Piper demanded. "Are you okay?"

"I – I don't know," Phoebe admitted, honestly. "I just – middle of the street, somewhere."

"Wait a minute," Piper said, suddenly. "You're on Paige's phone. Did she find you?"

"More or less," Phoebe muttered, feeling resentment start to bubble up at the sound of the other woman's name. "Piper, who the hell is this woman?"

"You're not going to believe this," Piper told her, "but she's our sister. Our baby sister."

"Our sister," Phoebe echoed, skepticism heavy in her voice.

"She's awesome, Pheebs," Piper gushed, as Phoebe rolled her eyes at the clearly-unwarranted praise. "She's smart, and she's brave, and she's so much like Prue that's it's almost scary. You're going to love her."

_'Yeah, right,'_ Phoebe thought, angrily, glaring at the woman who'd managed to fool her sisters into believing her little con act.

But, she wasn't going to say that out loud. No, if she didn't want to alienate her sisters, after this stranger had already seemingly won them to her side, she was going to have to choose her words wisely.

"Have you considered," she asked, instead, keeping her voice quiet and keeping a wary eye on the younger woman, "that she's lying to you and Prue?"

"What?" Piper asked, incredulously, and Phoebe pressed on.

"Think about it," she insisted. "I disappear, and this complete stranger pops up, and she just happens to be our long-lost sister? Doesn't that seem just a little too coincidental, to you?"

"Phoebe, it's not like that," Piper protested.

"It sure seems that way to me," Phoebe argued, hotly, lowering her voice when the woman looked over at her. "Piper, we've had people try to get to us like this, before. Aviva, Abbey, hell, even Cole before he turned good."

"Okay, one," Piper said, "Aviva was being used by a demon. Two, Abbey was completely insane. Three, Paige really is our sister."

"How do you know that?" Phoebe hissed. "What, you're just going to believe any crazy person who walks in off the street and says she's related to us?"

"No, I believe Mom," Piper told her, "I believe the Elders, and I believe Paige, who saved our lives when Shax attacked. Phoebe, what is wrong with you?"

_'Nothing's wrong with me,'_ Phoebe thought, resentfully. _'But, I'm starting to think that something is wrong with you. Very wrong.'_

"I don't know what this woman did," Phoebe hissed, furiously. "But, I'm going to fix it, Piper. I promise."

Snapping the phone shut before Piper could say anything else, she reached out and grabbed onto Cole's arm. Then, she shimmered them out of the tent, getting him away from that woman.

She reappeared in the attic, with Cole standing by her side. But, then she had to catch him as he started to fall, still clearly weakened from his injuries. Slinging Cole's arm around her shoulder, Phoebe dragged him across the attic to the couch in the corner, setting him down on the cushions as gently as she could.

"I am not going to let her win," Phoebe growled, as she stalked toward the Book of Shadows. "I am not going to let her ruin my family."

The Book was standing open on its pedestal, but the cover flipped shut as she reached for it. Glaring at the Book, Phoebe tried to open it, only to receive a painful shock as the Book shot off the pedestal and skidded across the floor. And it kept moving away every time she tried to pick it up.

"What the hell is wrong with the Book?" she growled, and from the couch, she heard Cole cough as he tried to speak.

"My powers," he told her, quietly, his voice rasping painfully as he spoke. "You have to give up my powers, Phoebe. They're corrupting you, turning you into someone I don't recognize."

"She got to you, too," Phoebe realized, with dawning horror. "You're still hurt, so it's obvious she didn't heal you. She must have done something to cloud your mind, the same thing that she did to my sisters."

"Phoebe, think about what you're saying," Cole entreated, trying to push himself up off the couch but collapsing in pain before he'd even completely straightened up. "Listen to yourself."

"That evil bitch," Phoebe growled, barely hearing Cole's words. "She's not going to get away with this. That – that _demon_ is going to pay for what she's done to my family."

"Phoebe," Cole said, insistently, but she wasn't listening to him, anymore.

Instead, she was listening to the sound of voices floating up from downstairs. Leo's voice – and that woman's.

Stalking toward the door, Phoebe grabbed an athame from the box of discarded weapons that they'd salvaged from demon vanquishes over the years.

"Time to end this," she growled.


	28. Chapter 28

**Author's Note: **Thanks so much to everyone who's been reading and reviewing. I love hearing what you guys think.

**Chapter Twenty-Eight**

As he moved back to Tyler's side, Henry turned to see Paige and Phoebe talking. Then, a second later, Phoebe disappeared from the middle of the street in a shower of white lights. Paige followed her a moment later, and Henry watched the orb trail disappear into the colorful tent that Paige had indicated.

The men that Paige had called the Cleaners looked around at the frozen tableau, and the taller man had a disdainful look on his face. But, whatever he clearly wanted to say remained unsaid, and after a moment, his partner waved a hand. The air in front of Henry's eyes shimmered, like he was trying to look through smoke, and when it cleared, the men were gone.

The people standing in the street had also unfrozen, and Henry looked over at Tyler, who was looking around with a confused look on his face.

"Where's Paige?" he asked. "She was just standing right here."

_'Looks like those Cleaners really did change people's memories,'_ Henry thought, wryly, even though he wondered why his memories had been left unchanged.

"There was a … situation," Henry said, choosing his words carefully and deciding that they were going to have to come up with a better code phrase for discussing these kinds of things in public.

"Like a demon thing?" Tyler hissed, quietly, which he figured just proved his point.

"Sort of," Henry hedged. "Come on; she's over here."

It actually took him a couple of minutes to find the right tent. He couldn't very well go in the back of the tent, and when they went around to the front, it became somewhat difficult to distinguish one brightly-colored tent from another. But, he finally found what he figured was the one, with a sign outside proclaiming palm readings by Madame Theresa.

He and Tyler ducked into the tent to be greeted by a woman with curly blonde hair sitting at a low table.

"Are you here to have your fortunes read?" she asked, her voice quiet and lilting.

"Actually, we're here looking for someone," Henry said, and then he hesitated as he tried to think of how to phrase the rest of his request.

He was saved by the arrival of an older, gray-haired woman who emerged from the back of the tent. She gave him a long, appraising look, and then nodded at the other woman.

"They're with our visitors," the older woman said. Looking back at Henry, she added, "If you will come with me?"

Henry and Tyler followed her into the secluded area at the back of the tent, in time to see Phoebe shimmer out of the tent with the strange man at her side. Paige stared after her sister with a stunned look on her face.

"That was my phone," she said, disbelief clear in her voice.

"The way you keep having to replace them, you should buy stock in the company," Henry teased her, and Paige shot him a withering look.

"Phoebe's acting really strangely," she told him. "Leo and I are going to go after her-"

"We are?" Leo asked. "No offense, but I don't even know who you are."

"That's right," Paige said, musingly. "You were kind of unconscious when I first talked to Phoebe."

"So, who are you?" Leo asked, challengingly. "And how do you know Phoebe?"

Henry bristled at the other man's tone, until he realized that Leo was just doing what he would have, if their situations were reversed. Leo didn't have any idea who he and Paige were; he was doing everything he could to protect his family, and Henry couldn't help but respect the other man for it.

"My name is Paige Matthews," Paige told him, holding her hand out for him to shake. "I'm Patty and Sam's daughter."

From the absolutely stunned look on Leo's face, that was clearly the last thing he was expecting. He shook Paige's proffered hand with a dazed expression, looking her over.

"Patty Halliwell?" he asked, as if Paige could have been talking about anyone else. "But, that would make you-"

"Yeah," Paige confirmed, with a wry grin. "Piper and Prue kind of had the same reaction."

"But, we never knew about you," Leo protested.

"No one did," Paige said, with a casual shrug. "That was kind of the point."

"You're half Whitelighter," Leo said, insistently. "That's against the rules."

"So is getting married," Paige said, challengingly. "Didn't seem to stop you and Piper, though."

"Good point," Leo said, faintly. "Wait a minute; if no one knew about you, who taught you to heal? Where'd you learn your magic?"

"Look," Paige said, clearly taking pity on him. "All of this is a really long story. And like I said, earlier, I will explain everything. But, I really think that we should go after Phoebe, right now."

"You're right," Leo said, his priorities shifting immediately. "I know where she's gone, and I can orb us there."

"Thank you," Paige said, gratefully. Turning to Henry, she added, "Do you and Tyler want to take the car back to the Manor?"

"After we stop at Chinatown, sure," Henry told her. "Piper's list?" he prompted, when she looked at him, confused.

"Oh, right," Paige said, digging into her pocket for the scrap of paper with Piper's list of potion ingredients on it. "But, do you even know what you're looking for?"

"No," Henry said, honestly. "But, the store owner will, and that's all that counts, right now."

"All right," Paige said, passing him the piece of paper. "So, I'll see you guys later."

She hugged Tyler, who'd been standing back and watching everything, curiously. Then, she linked hands with Leo and the two of them orbed away.

"What do you say, kiddo?" Henry asked, turning to look at Tyler. "You want to hit Chinatown?"

"Sure," Tyler answered, but he sounded subdued, a shadowed expression on his face.

After thanking Madame Theresa and her friend, Lydia, for their hospitality, Henry and Tyler headed back to where the car was parked. The drive to Chinatown was silent, and Henry kept looking over at Tyler, worried by the boy's sudden quiet mood.

"We could have stayed longer at the street fair, if you wanted," he finally offered, trying to figure out what was wrong with his son.

"It's not that," Tyler muttered, but then he fell silent, clearly unwilling to discuss the matter, further.

Henry waited, knowing that any attempt to force the issue was only going to make Tyler clam up even further. He'd seen the same thing from a lot of his parolees who'd had hard lives, watched them shut down when they were forced to confront something they weren't ready to. Tyler certainly hadn't had things easy throughout his life, and a few peaceful days with Paige weren't enough to make the scars disappear.

They'd arrived at the apothecary shop indicated on Piper's piece of paper, and Henry had parked the car on the side of the street, when Tyler finally spoke. His voice was so low that Henry could barely hear him.

"I was three when my birth parents abandoned me," he said, softly, avoiding Henry's eyes. "Mr. Cowan told me that they found me wandering around Chinatown in the middle of a rainstorm. I got sick with pneumonia, and I almost died. And I went to my first foster home two weeks later."

"I guess this place has some pretty bad memories for you," Henry said, mentally kicking himself for not asking Paige about Tyler's history. Some father he was shaping up to be. "Ty, if you want to go home-"

"You told Paige that we'd get Piper's potion ingredients," Tyler said, sounding confused.

"The ingredients aren't important," Henry said. "If you don't want to be here, we won't be. It's as simple as that."

Tyler looked like he was thinking about the idea for a few moments, but then he shook his head.

"We should get Piper's stuff," he said, jerking his shoulder in a shrug. "Since we're here, and all."

They went into the apothecary, where a young woman was arguing with the man standing behind the desk. Henry couldn't hear what she was saying, but she was obviously upset about something, if the distressed look on her face was anything to go by. She kept gesturing anxiously at the shopkeeper, but the man just kept shaking his head, clearly unable to help her.

Finally, the young woman stalked off in a huff, brushing past Henry as she stormed out of the door. The shopkeeper waved Henry and Tyler over when he saw them standing by the doorway.

"What can I help you folks with?" he asked, and Henry passed him Piper's list.

"We need all of that," he said, gesturing at the list.

"Sure thing," the young man said, getting to work.

Fifteen minutes later, they left the store with a paper bag filled with the potion ingredients. They were about to get back in the car when Henry stopped, his attention caught by the young woman who'd been in the shop, earlier. She was standing outside the door, pacing nervously back and forth and glancing at the door. Her behavior was suspicious, like she was casing the shop.

When she ducked into the shop, Henry started to get a bad feeling.

"Stay with the car," he told Tyler, quietly, and then he started back across the street.

He'd only made it halfway across when the door to the shop burst open, and the young woman came sprinting out. She had a cloth-wrapped bundle in her hands, but Henry couldn't tell anything more than that.

"Hey!" the shopkeeper hollered, as he made an aborted attempt to give chase. "Get back here with that!"

Henry chased after the woman, running after her as she ducked down an alleyway. She was fast, but so was he, and he'd almost caught up with her when she suddenly jerked to a stop. The cloth bundle went flying out of her hands as she crashed heavily to the ground. She jerked in a strange motion as she fell, and Henry saw a hand wrapped around her ankle. Then, he watched in amazement as an arm slowly emerged from a puddle at the woman's feet, followed swiftly by a body.

The man stepped out of the puddle, letting go of the woman's ankle as he stood up, and she took advantage of her freedom to jump back to her feet.

"Yen Lo," she snarled, furiously, while Henry tried desperately to figure out who was the good guy in the scenario.

"An Ling," the man said, a taunting note in his voice. "Why don't you just give up and give me the dragon blade? Maybe then I won't kill you."

"You know," Henry spoke up, startling both of them, "it's a really bad idea to talk about killing someone in front of a police officer."

Yen Lo's eyes flickered over him, for an instant, and then he looked away, clearly dismissing him as unimportant. But, the young woman had a calculating look in her eyes as she looked at him, and Henry figured that she saw him as a potential ally. And since Yen Lo had been the one talking about killing her, Henry figured that helping her was probably the safest option.

When she dove to the side, going for the cloth bundle, Henry threw himself at Yen Lo. He wrestled the other man to the ground before he could get to the woman, getting an elbow in the face for his troubles.

Pain exploded in his head, and he heard a distinct crack as his nose broke. He tried to ignore it, but it was harder than he expecting, trying to push the pain away, and he lost his grip on Yen Lo. The other man scrambled to his feet while Henry was distracted, grabbing An Ling around the waist and forcibly hauling her backward.

"I'll just take you back with me," he growled, as he dragged the struggling woman toward the puddle that he'd first emerged from. "I'm getting that blade, one way or another."

"I don't think so," Henry grunted out.

He lunged at Yen Lo, taking the other man by surprise as he knocked him backward. Henry felt a moment of triumph as Yen Lo lost his grip on An Ling – and the mysterious bundle she was still holding in a death grip. Then, his triumph turned to horror as he twisted around and saw that they were falling toward the puddle of water.

Henry tried to let go of Yen Lo, but he wasn't fast enough. He half expected to slam painfully into the concrete as they fell, but instead he felt water rushing over his head, surrounding him. He instinctively held his breath, trying not to drown. Pain shot through his head as he struggled not to take in the breath his lungs so desperately screamed for, and black spots started dancing in front of his eyes.

Then, mercifully, everything went black.


	29. Chapter 29

**Author's Note: **Thanks so much to everyone who's been reading and reviewing. You guys are awesome!

**Chapter Twenty-Nine**

As they orbed into an empty Manor, Paige looked around in confusion.

"Maybe Phoebe and Cole didn't come back here, after all," she suggested.

"No," Leo told her. "Phoebe's here. I can sense her; she's my charge, and my family."

The unspoken _'And you're not,'_ was heavy in the air, and Paige had to fight the urge to sigh.

She'd thought, based on clearly faulty memories, that Phoebe and Leo would have been the ones who would accept her the easiest. She hadn't expected to be treated like some interloper, like the enemy.

She didn't have a chance to say anything, though, because Leo suddenly tackled her, slamming her to the floor behind the couch.

"What the hell?" Paige choked out, as Leo landed heavily on top of her.

"That," Leo said, shortly, jerking his head up and Paige followed the gesture to see an athame embedded in the wall behind where she'd just been standing.

"Thanks," Paige said, faintly, as she stared up at the dagger. "Where did that even come from?" she demanded, as she pulled herself to her feet.

A second later, she dropped back down to the floor to avoid the energy ball that came winging at her head, using the couch as cover.

"Phoebe knows we're home," she told Leo, as they huddled behind the couch.

"Why is she trying to kill us?" Leo asked, confused.

He tried to look over the top of the couch, but Paige jerked him down before he could make a target of himself.

"What are you doing?" Leo demanded, in a low voice. "I can talk to her."

"I think Phoebe's a little beyond rational conversation at this point," Paige hissed. "You'd think the energy balls would have clued you in to that."

"So, what are we supposed to do?" Leo snapped, glaring at her. "Just sit here, trapped and waiting for Phoebe to find us?"

"I don't know, all right!" Paige snapped back, frustrated. "I'm working on it!"

Taking a chance, she moved slowly until she was peering over the top of the couch, her eyes barely visible over the top cushions. She flexed her right hand, sparks of lightning jumping between her fingers as she looked for Phoebe.

She saw her sister standing on the stairs, her own eyes moving restlessly as she looked around the living room, clearly trying to find her and Leo. When Phoebe's eyes lit up a second later, Paige knew she'd been spotted.

Letting out a quiet curse, she dropped gracelessly back down to the floor, wincing as an energy ball sailed over her head to strike the stones of the fireplace and explode in a burst of light. She took a second to gather up the sparks that had gathered on her hand, forming the lightning into a ball. Then, she popped back up and, saying a quick prayer that Phoebe hadn't had time to recover, she threw the small ball at her sister with a quick flick of her wrist.

Phoebe was fast, though, and she dodged out of the way of the ball of lightning, throwing an energy ball that absorbed Paige's attack. Then, she climbed back to her feet, a snarl twisting her face.

But, while Phoebe was distracted, Paige had grabbed Leo's arm and dragged him upright, bolting into the kitchen with the Whitelighter on her heels. Then, she whirled around and sent a burst of wind toward the doorway, sending Phoebe flying backward from the force she'd generated.

"I can't keep knocking her down, like this," she warned, a twist of her wrist turning the burst of wind into a mini tornado that picked Phoebe up and spun her around, wildly, before dumping her unceremoniously on the floor.

Paige wasn't trying to hurt her sister; she just wanted to disorient Phoebe and keep her from going after them.

"It's Cole's powers," Leo said, although Paige had been able to figure out that much. "Mortals can't handle demonic powers; it corrupts them and eventually drives them insane."

"Phoebe's a witch," Paige felt compelled to point out.

"Which makes it even worse," Leo told her. "And since she seems to have fixated on you-"

"She thinks I'm trying to hurt Prue and Piper," Paige said, grimly. "And, she seems pretty determined to kill me."

"She doesn't know what she's doing," Leo said, defensively.

"Doesn't exactly make me feel better," Paige muttered, as she forced Phoebe back, yet again.

Phoebe was strong, and she wasn't going to be able to hold her back, forever. But, she had an idea that might work.

"When I tell you to," Paige told Leo, tersely, before he could say anything, "orb us back to the living room."

"Why would I-" Leo started to demand, but then Paige gripped his arm as a shadow fell through the doorway.

"Now!" she snapped, as Phoebe stepped into the kitchen, an energy ball at her fingertips.

She went weightless as Leo orbed them out of the room, experiencing a moment of disorientation as they rematerialized in the living room. She shook it off, though, in favor of dragging Leo toward the stairs.

"Attic," she explained, as they took the stairs two at a time. "We can barricade ourselves in there against Phoebe, and maybe figure out a way to get Cole's powers out of her."

But, her impromptu plan came to a screeching halt when Cole stumbled down the stairs from the attic, his arms wrapped around his torso, where his shirt was dark with blood. Leo caught the other man as he fell, managing to lower him to the floor.

"Phoebe," Cole groaned, his eyes clouded with pain. "She's-"

"We know," Leo reassured him, quickly, and Cole sighed with obvious relief, slipping into unconsciousness a moment later.

"You have to get him out of here," Paige said as she glance warily back at the staircase, expecting Phoebe to appear at any second.

"I can't leave you here, alone," Leo protested, concern creeping into his tone for the first time since they'd met.

"Cole's hurt," Paige said, insistently. "You're the only one who can orb, and right now, he's our first priority. Get him out of here."

Leo finally nodded, gripping Cole's arms and orbing away in a flash of light. Alone, Paige started to reassess her plan, especially since she could hear footsteps on the stairs. Clearly, Phoebe was taking pleasure in hunting down her prey on foot, rather than using her powers to go after her.

_'That's more than a little disturbing,'_ Paige decided, ducking into the first open room she saw just as Phoebe appeared on the landing.

She pressed herself up against the wall, out of sight, barely daring to even breathe as Phoebe stalked down the hallway past her. Then, she bolted for the staircase, hurtling down as fast as she dared and praying that she didn't slip and break her neck.

Once down the stairs, she looked longingly at the front door, but immediately dismissed the idea. With the way Phoebe had fixated on her, she didn't dare go outside, around other people. That was just asking to get someone hurt, or even killed.

No, she was staying put in the Manor, where she was the only one in danger.

Which was now, apparently, as an energy ball went whizzing past her ear, and she reflexively dove to the ground. She managed to get behind the couch, again, pressed up against the back as she prayed that Phoebe hadn't seen her.

"Do you really think you can hide from me?"

So, apparently, her luck was running out on all fronts, today.

"Come on, Pheebs," Paige entreated, still staying put. "Can't we talk about this?"

"Talk," Phoebe echoed, scornfully. "That's a new one. Most demons just want to kill us."

"I'm not a demon, I'm your sister," Paige snapped, and she could hear Phoebe laugh.

"Right," she said, disbelief clear in her voice. "Pull the other one."

"You're allergic to shellfish!" Paige blurted out, desperately, seizing at the half-formed wisps of memories that teased at the edges of her mind. "Your favorite movie is _Kill it Before it Dies_, you were named after Mom's great-aunt-"

"Shut up!" Phoebe growled, furiously, and Paige could hear her voice cracking with the strain. "I'm not going to let you hurt my sisters!"

"I'm not-" Paige started to protest, but then she broke off as the front door started to open.

Phoebe whirled around at the sound, an energy ball already sparking at her fingertips, and Paige watched in horror as Piper and Prue walked through the front door, oblivious to what lay beyond.

"No!" she yelled, bolting from her hiding place toward her sisters.

She dimly remembered running like this, before, trying to beat Shax, only this time she was trying to save her sisters from Phoebe. Her thoughts immediately went to Henry and Tyler, a split second later.

_'I'm sorry,'_ she thought, fleetingly, as she threw herself at Piper to get her out of the line of fire. _'I love you, both.'_

**Author's Note, the sequel: **Apologies for the cliffhanger; it wasn't supposed to end like that, but the chapter was getting too complicated before I split it up. _  
_


	30. Chapter 30

**Author's Note: **Thank you so much to everyone who's been reading and reviewing. You guys are awesome.

**Chapter Thirty**

As Paige dove at Piper, the energy ball struck her in the shoulder, sending her spinning around to crash heavily into her sisters. They slammed into the floor, Piper's arms instinctively going around Paige to steady her, and Paige groaned in pain as they hit the floor in a tangled heap. There was a moment of confusion as they tried to disentangle themselves, and Prue was the first one back on her feet.

"Ow," Paige mumbled, as she staggered back to her feet, aided by Piper's strong grip.

She looked immediately over to Prue, to make sure that she was all right. The oldest Halliwell had her arm extended toward Phoebe, pinning her wildly-struggling sister to the far wall with a look of grim determination on her face.

"So, what'd you do to piss Phoebe off?" she asked, but there was an undercurrent of tension beneath her light tone.

"She has Cole's powers," Paige explained, shortly. "They're driving her insane. We have to get them out of her before it kills her."

"Well, think of something fast," Prue told them. "I can't hold her here, for long. She's too strong."

"The power swapping spell," Piper said, snapping her fingers. "We might be able to modify it to give Cole his powers back – where is Cole?"

"He's hurt," Paige replied. "Leo took him somewhere safe."

"Leo's all right?" Piper asked, a hopeful note in her voice, and Paige smiled reassuringly at her sister.

"He's fine," she told her. "Doesn't seem to like me, much, but that just seems to be the theme of the day."

"Leo?" Prue called out, having heard her. "Leo, bring Cole."

Lights filled the room a second later, and Leo materialized in the middle of the living room with Cole, the other man still unconscious and clearly in pain. When she saw her husband, Piper let out a wordless cry and lunged at him, wrapping her arms around him in a crushing embrace.

Paige bolted to Cole's side to check on the fallen man, her fingers gentle on his wound as she checked him over. Ignoring Phoebe's outraged scream of protest, she turned to Prue with a worried frown.

"If we're going to do something, we need to do it, now," she told the older woman. "Leo and I never got the chance to finish healing Cole, and he's pretty weak."

"Piper," Prue called out, urgently. "We need that power swapping spell. Right now."

As she turned back, Paige could see Piper muttering something softly under her breath, probably the words of the spell. Then, she shook her head with a regretful look on her face.

"The spell won't work," she said, sounding frustrated. "Phoebe has to be the one to say it."

"Yeah, good luck with that one," Paige muttered, shaking her head in disbelief. "So, you're saying that we have to wing it?"

"Pretty much," Piper confirmed. "Otherwise, Phoebe's stuck with Cole's powers."

"Not an option," Paige agreed. "How about, 'Powers swapped'-"

"Taken," Leo corrected her, quickly. "Phoebe took Cole's powers; she didn't swap any of her own. It was the only way we got out of there."

"Okay," Prue said, picking up on the thread. "Powers taken when needed most-"

"Return now to their rightful host?" Piper suggested, hopefully, and they all looked over at Phoebe, hoping to see Cole's powers leaving her body.

"Well, damn," Paige muttered, when nothing happened. "Okay, now what?"

"I still think we're on the right track," Prue insisted, scowling as Phoebe struggled against her magical hold. "Damn it, Pheebs, we're trying to help you!"

"She's evil!" Phoebe snarled, and Paige rolled her eyes.

"If I was really evil, I would have killed Prue and Piper when I first met them," she shot back. "I certainly wouldn't have waited for you to show up and bring back the Power of Three."

"You have to admit," Prue said, into the silence that followed. "It's a little creepy that you've thought that out."

"Yeah, well, I've always been a little twisted," Paige retorted.

"Can we focus here, people?" Piper broke in. "Brainstorming a spell, remember?"

"Okay, okay," Paige muttered, rubbing at the headache she could feel forming at her temples. Her shoulder was really starting to hurt, as well, where Phoebe's energy ball had hit her. "Why didn't the spell work?"

"Maybe it needs the Power of Three?" Piper suggested.

"For a power swapping spell?" Prue asked, incredulously. "No way, not when the one in the Book affected all of us that time you read it, Piper."

"Maybe we weren't specific enough," Paige mused, shrugging when her sisters looked over at her. "I don't suppose you want to tell us the spell you used to take Cole's powers in the first place?" she asked Phoebe.

"Go to Hell," her sister spat at her.

"Guess that's a no, then," Prue muttered. "Hey!" she yelped, a second later, when her concentration slipped and Phoebe managed to force herself away from the wall.

Paige snapped her hand out and pinned Phoebe back to the wall with a gust of wind like she'd done with the Darklighter that had attacked Sam, moving to Prue's side to help her contain the other woman.

"Any time, Piper," Prue suggested, as she and Paige worked to keep Phoebe from getting free, a task that proved harder by the second as she regained more and more of her strength.

"Right, no pressure," Piper snapped back, glaring at them.

A few, impossibly-long minutes later, she darted to where Prue and Paige were standing, still struggling to keep Phoebe from getting loose.

"I think I've got something," she said, brandishing a slip of paper. "It should work if all three of us say it."

"Fingers crossed," Paige muttered, as she and Prue looked over at the paper, chanting in unison with Piper.

_"What's yours is his, _

_We take from thine, _

_Balthazar's powers cross the line. _

_His powers were not yours to take,_

_Your true nature, we now remake."_

A bright cloud of lights surrounded Phoebe, lifting away from her body to float through the air. The lights entered Cole, making his unconscious body arch up from the shock, and at the same time, Phoebe sagged limply against the wall.

Paige broke away from her sisters and bolted to Cole's side, catching Leo's hand as the two of them knelt down beside the unconscious man. Paige held her hand over Cole's wound, concentrating as hard as she could on healing him. And, between hers and Leo's efforts, his wounds finally closed, healing completely.

"What the-" Cole slurred, as he slowly opened his eyes and looked around, groggily. "Phoebe-"

"She's fine," Paige reassured him, quickly, glancing back to confirm it for himself. "Here, let's get you up."

Cole reached up and grabbed the hand she held out to him, and then he gasped in shock, his eyes rolling back in his head as his body went completely rigid. He relaxed a second later, but it was long enough that both she and Leo had started hovering over him, worriedly.

"I'm fine," he brushed them off, before either of them could say anything.

Gingerly, he grabbed the hand Paige was still holding out to him, and when nothing seemed to happen, he let her pull him to his feet.

"I think I just had a premonition," he said, baffled. "But, that's never been one of my powers."

"No," Phoebe spoke up, testily, "it's one of mine."

They looked over to where Phoebe was leaning on Prue and Piper, her furious gaze fixed squarely on Paige.

"Good going, _sis_," she sneered, mockingly. "You screwed the spell up."

"But, that shouldn't even be possible," Piper protested. "The spell specifically targeted Cole's powers. Yours shouldn't have even been affected."

"Well, Cole just had a premonition," Phoebe snapped, as she pushed herself away from her older sisters. "And, look," she added, testily, "I can't levitate."

"Well, maybe there's another spell," Piper offered, but Phoebe shook her head.

"No way," she snapped, still glaring at Paige. "And let her screw up something else?"

"This isn't Paige's fault," Prue protested, in her sister's defense.

"She's not one of us," Phoebe insisted, furiously. "Why else would the spell have gone wrong?"

"Excuse me?" Paige demanded, incredulously. "How about a thank you for saving your life?"

"You did this to me!" Phoebe practically howled, shaking with rage.

"No one is at fault here," Leo spoke up, firmly, before anyone could say anything else. "Accidents happen, Phoebe. Especially in magic, you know that."

"All I know is that I don't have my powers," Phoebe snapped, a bitter tone in her voice.

"We'll fix it," Prue insisted, but Phoebe just shook her head, still glaring at Paige.

"I'm not letting her work any more magic on me," she declared. "I'll probably end up with a tail, or something."

"Hey, Cole," Piper interjected, quickly, clearly trying to change the subject. "What was that premonition you had?"

"There was a fire," Cole started, but the rest of his sentence was cut off by the sound of water splashing in the kitchen.

"What the heck was that?" Prue asked, and a second later, Tyler came barreling into the room, soaking wet.

He careened into Paige, practically hysterical and babbling incoherently. Paige wrapped her arms around him, steadying the boy as he swayed on his feet.

"Tyler," she said, firmly, breaking into his rambling speech. "Slow down, sweetie. I can't understand you."

Tyler gasped, taking a deep breath to center himself. Then, he looked at Paige with a lost expression on his face.

"Henry's gone," he told her, quietly. "Some demon grabbed him when we were in Chinatown."

Paige rocked back like she'd just been struck. The news was like a physical blow, and she couldn't seem to wrap her mind around what Tyler had just said.

"What?" she whispered, disbelievingly. "But – he's mortal; he's supposed to be safe-"

"He was very brave," a new voice spoke up, and Paige looked up to see a young woman standing in the doorway to the kitchen. "Your Henry saved my life. If not for him, Yen Lo would have killed me."

"Who are you?" Prue demanded, glaring at the young woman, and Paige found herself grateful for overly protective older sisters. "How did you get in our house?"

"We came through the kitchen sink," Tyler spoke up, from where he was still leaning against Paige. "I don't really know how."

"It is taught to all how study the ancient arts," the young woman said, hesitantly, as she moved slowly into the living room. "My name in An Ling. I am-"

"A Zen Master," Paige said, quietly, surprising the young woman.

"My father is the true master," An Ling corrected her, after a moment. "I am only his student."

"Are you remembering something?" Piper asked, curiously, but Paige shook her head.

"Not enough," she said, frustrated. "Not anything helpful. Damn it, I hate this."

"Well, let's hit the Book," Prue suggested, sensibly. Turning to An Ling, she added, "You said the demon was called Yen Lo?"

"He is not a demon," An Ling replied. "He is as human as any of us."

"Just a human who kidnapped my husband," Paige muttered, her arms tightening protectively around Tyler as she spoke. "Demon or not, he's still dangerous."

"Very," An Ling confirmed. "Which is why we must proceed with caution."

"We?" Piper asked, in surprise, and the young woman nodded, firmly.

"Yen Lo has taken my father," she told them, her tone grave. "The only problem is that I do not know where he has taken him, and nothing I do to track him down is working."

"We could always scry for him," Phoebe spoke up for the first time. She very carefully avoided looking at Paige as she added, "We can get started, now, if you have something that we can track Yen Lo with."

"Sounds like a plan," Prue said, but Paige wasn't listening to her.

Her attention had been caught by the paper bag that Tyler was clutching in his hands. Taking the bag, she opened it and stared at the herbs inside, feeling the wisps of a memory tease at the edges of her mind.

There was an answer there, she just knew it. Now, only if she could just see it.

When she caught a flash of light out of the corner of her eye, she looked up to see An Ling brandishing a very familiar-looking dagger, light reflecting off its blade. An Ling was talking, and Paige caught the word soul, and everything clicked into place.

Paige ran into the kitchen, ignoring her sisters' surprised exclamations from behind her. She flicked on one of the gas burners on the stove, lighting it with a twitch of her hand as she put a saucepan on the flames. Then, she moved to the potion cabinet, pulling things down.

She was thrown for a minute when the layout of the cabinet didn't match the picture in her memory, the cabinet she distinctly remembered spending hours rearranging one day, even though she'd never been in this part of the house, before. But, she shook off the confusion and dug around until she found what she needed, lining everything up on the edge of the counter.

The next part was trickier; she knew what ingredients needed to go into the potion, but she didn't remember if there was a specific order they were supposed to go in.

_'Oh, come on,'_ she scolded herself, firmly, when she found herself hesitating over adding the ginger before the eye of newt. _'I know how to make this potion; I'm the one who invented it in the first place.'_

Her mind made up, she threw the ginger into the saucepan, followed by the eye of newt. She added the rest of the ingredients quickly, nodding in satisfaction when the potion started bubbling and turned the same bright blue color that she remembered it being.

Picking up the last ingredient, the powdered toadstool, she looked up to see her sisters staring at her in shock, with Leo, Cole, Tyler, and An Ling standing behind them.

"Where did you learn to make potions?" Piper demanded, but Paige shook her head.

"Later," she promised. "Look, I've got a way to find Henry and An Ling's father. Just – don't freak out on me, okay?"

Before anyone could say anything, she tossed the powdered toadstool into the saucepan.

"I want to be Henry," she said, quietly, and the world went white in front of her eyes…


	31. Chapter 31

**Author's Note: **For everyone who's been confused about Phoebe's uncharacteristic behavior, there is a reason for it, and everything will be explained in a chapter or so. As always, thanks so much to everyone who's been reading and reviewing. You guys are amazing.

**Chapter Thirty-One**

When Paige bolted out the living room with Tyler's paper bag held in her hands, Piper was the first to follow her. She called after Paige, but the other woman didn't seem to hear her in her haste, and when she got into the kitchen, Paige had already lit one of the gas burners and was rummaging through the potion cabinets.

She had several bottles and batches of herbs lined up on the edge of the counter, and Piper watched her sudden burst of efficiency in amazement.

_'For someone who only discovered her magic a week ago,'_ she thought, idly, _'Paige is a whiz at potions.'_

Behind her, Piper could hear everyone else entering the kitchen, and she squeezed Leo's hand that he dropped onto her shoulder.

"What is she doing?" Prue hissed, softly, as they watched Paige throw the potion ingredients into the saucepan seemingly at random.

"I have no idea," Piper muttered back, just as softly. Raising her voice so that Paige could hear her, she added, "Where did you learn to make potions?"

Looking up at them, Paige just shook her head, a strange expression on her face.

"Later," she said, which seemed to be the watchword for getting any sort of answers out of their youngest sister. "Look, I've got a way to find Henry and An Ling's father. Just – don't freak out on me, okay?"

"Why would we-" Prue started to demand, but then Paige threw the last ingredient into the saucepan, causing the potion to explode.

Through the smoke that rose up from the potion, obscuring her face, Piper could see Paige saying something, although she couldn't hear what. Then, her entire body glowed white for a few seconds, and she swayed on her feet. As the glow faded, she blinked, slowly, looking around the kitchen in confusion.

"How did I get-" she started, and then she trailed off, a horrified look coming over her face.

Crossing the kitchen in a few strides, she grabbed Piper's best cookie sheet and flipped it over to the shiny side to look at her reflection. Then, she closed her eyes with a barely audible sigh.

"Crap," she muttered, shaking her head in disbelief. "Paige, what did you do?"

"Paige?" Piper asked, cautiously, when no one else seemed eager to step up to the plate. "Sweetie, you okay?"

At the sound of her voice, Paige's head snapped up, looking over at Piper with relief clear in her eyes.

"Thank god," she said. "Piper, what did Paige do?"

Piper looked back at Prue and Phoebe, sharing a confused look with her sisters.

"Paige," Prue said, carefully, "you're not making a whole lot of sense, here."

"What are you talking about?" Paige demanded, and then she looked down at her hands with a decidedly sheepish expression on her face. "Oh. Right. You guys probably don't know, then."

"Don't know what?" Phoebe snapped, irritably. "What did you do, this time?"

Paige raised a skeptical eyebrow in Phoebe's direction, looking surprised at the other woman's hostile tone. Piper found that strange, especially since all of Phoebe's hostility had been directed solely at her.

"It's not what I did," Paige finally said, looking away from Phoebe to glance at everyone else. "It's what Paige did." Before anyone could say anything, she continued, quickly, "I'm Henry. In Paige's body."

A stunned silence met that declaration, and Paige sighed.

"I really am Henry," she protested, when no one said anything.

"You're Henry," Prue echoed, skepticism heavy in her voice.

"You don't believe me," Paige said, flatly. "Of course you don't believe me. Look, when we were tracking down Paige and the Furies, you asked me why I'd learned to hunt demons. I told you that I didn't want to be a liability to Paige." Looking over at Piper, he added, "You called me MacGuyver because Tyler and I were taking demons out with road flares."

"You're really in Paige's body?" Piper asked, and Paige – no, Henry – nodded firmly.

"Yeah," he said. "Although," he added, looking confused, "if this is anything like what happened last time, Paige should be in here with me, and she's not."

"So, what happened?" Prue asked, getting an exasperated look in return.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out," Henry said, shortly.

Going back over to the potion that Paige had made, he looked down at the scattered ingredients with a pensive look on his face. He poked at a sprig of rosemary with his finger, jumping back in surprise when the herb burst into flames at the contact.

Piper flicked out a hand, freezing the flames.

"Ground rule," she said, firmly. "No pointing at anything until you learn to control Paige's powers."

"No offense," Henry said, "but I really hope that I'm not in her body long enough for that."

He quickly patted the frozen flames out with a dishtowel, and surveyed the rest of the potion ingredients with his hands tucked carefully behind his back.

"Okay," he finally said, "I recognize this one, now."

"You do?" Prue asked, clearly surprised.

"It's a body swapping potion," Henry told them. "Paige used it with one of her charges, once. She knew the kid was in trouble, but she couldn't sense him, so she swapped bodies with him so that she could find him and get him out of trouble."

"So, Paige swapped bodies with you for the same reason," Piper realized. "So that she could find out where you were and make sure that you weren't in any danger."

"Yeah," Henry confirmed. "Except, now she's the one in danger." Looking past her to where An Ling was standing, he added, "You're lucky that Yen Lo guy didn't get his hands on you."

"He has my father," An Ling said, a stony look on her face, "and I would happily trade places with him in a heartbeat."

"Older guy?" Henry asked. "Gray hair, wearing black robes?"

"That is my father," An Ling replied. Her expression turned hopeful as she added, "You've seen him? Is he all right?"

"He's alive," Henry said, and his voice was guarded. "He's hurt, though, and if we don't hurry-"

"Okay, fine," Prue said, briskly. "So, where are you – or Paige, rather – being held?"

"Yen Lo called it Limbo," Henry told them. "He was talking about a plan to trap other Zen Masters there and seal their knowledge off from the world."

"Limbo?" Piper asked, looking back to Leo for an explanation.

"It's a place between life and death," Leo answered. "It's sacred, a place of peace."

"Not anymore," Henry told him. "He's perverted it, somehow. It is not a nice place down there, and we need to get Paige and An Ling's father out, as soon as we can."

"How do we get there?" Phoebe asked. Looking over at Leo, she added, "Can you orb us down there?"

"I don't know how to get to Limbo," Leo confessed, and Cole shook his head when everyone looked over at him.

"My powers don't let me get into the realms of the dead," he said, apologetically.

"But, I might be able to," An Ling spoke up. "I brought myself and Tyler here through the water left in your sink," she added, nodding at the sink full of soapy water that someone had forgotten to drain, earlier. "I think I can get us to Limbo the same way."

"You think?" Prue echoed, doubtfully.

"It's our only chance," Henry said, firmly, ending the debate. "That's how Yen Lo dragged me to Limbo, after all."

"Then let's go and get our sister back," Piper said.

When she looked over at her sisters, she saw her same determination reflected on Prue's face. Phoebe's face was blank and closed off, but she still followed her older sisters to the sink.

_'Maybe Phoebe's getting over this strange animosity she has for Paige,'_ Piper thought, hopefully, but she didn't voice the thought out loud. She knew how stubborn her younger sister was, and pushing the issue was only going to make things worse between the youngest sisters.

But, Henry wasn't with them, and when Piper turned to find her, she saw Henry hugging Tyler, tightly.

"Stay here with Leo, okay?" Piper heard him ask, softly. "I need to know that you're safe."

"Bring Paige home," Tyler said, just as quietly, and Piper could feel pain lancing through her at the fear she heard in the boy's voice. "You guys have really got to stop getting grabbed by demons."

"I'll bring her back," Henry promised. "Everything's going to be fine; don't you worry."

Then, he joined Piper, Prue, Phoebe, and An Ling by where they were standing by the sink. An Ling waved a hand over the water, banishing the suds and making the surface of the water ripple, wildly.

"This will be easiest if everyone holds hands," An Ling warned them. "And whatever you do, do not let go."

Piper gripped Prue and An Ling's hands, and Henry and Phoebe completed the circle. An Ling waved her free hand, causing some of the water to slosh out of the sink and fall onto the floor. The puddle at their feet spread out over the floor, widening until it stretched out just touching their shoes. Then, An Ling stepped forward, with everyone else following her lead.


	32. Chapter 32

**Author's Note: **Thank you so much to everyone who's been reading and reviewing. You guys are amazing.

**Chapter Thirty-Two**

They fell for what seemed like forever, and then they hit the ground with an impact that rattled Prue down to her bones. She grunted softly with pain as she fell to her knees, dragging Piper and Phoebe down with her.

The three of them disentangled themselves and got to their feet, looking around. Henry and An Ling were nowhere to be seen, and Prue started to get worried, with An Ling's warning about not letting go still ringing in her ears.

"Henry!" she yelled, as she looked around to see if she could spot the other two. "An Ling!"

"Quiet," Phoebe hissed, elbowing her hard in the side. "Do you want to bring Yen Lo right down on top of us?"

Prue opened her mouth to say something, but then she thought better of it. Phoebe had just spent the last week dodging demons in the Underworld; most likely she knew exactly what she was talking about. Swallowing her words, Prue fell silent as she and Piper followed Phoebe out of the open area they'd landed in.

They found shelter behind a mound of rocks, and Prue used the relative safety of their impromptu hiding place to look around. Leo had described Limbo as peaceful, as a sacred place, but it looked nothing of the sort.

The clouds above them were dark gray, jagged streaks of lightning filling the sky. The air around them was filled with electricity, the energy humming along their very bones. Prue itched all over, and she had to resist the urge to scratch at her skin as hard as she could.

"I don't see Yen Lo," Piper said, in a hushed whisper, as she looked around the dismally barren landscape.

"He could be hiding somewhere," Phoebe shot back, just as quietly.

"Why would he be hiding?" Prue felt compelled to point out, and rather reasonably, she felt.

Phoebe glared at her, but before they could say anything, the sound of rocks tumbling together from somewhere nearby had them looking around in alarm. Then, Prue breathed a quiet sigh of relief when she saw An Ling and Henry moving slowly toward them. Her relief turned to worry, however, when she noticed that Henry was stumbling as he walked, leaning heavily on An Ling to keep from falling down.

Beside her, Piper had shot up in alarm, helping An Ling lower Henry carefully to the ground as the pair joined them.

"What's wrong?" Piper demanded, worriedly.

"I don't know," An Ling said, an anxious tone in her voice. "We landed about half a mile away and started off to find you. Then, Henry started stumbling, and he couldn't stay on his feet. I've had to drag him most of the way here."

"Henry?" Piper asked, quietly, tapping him gently on the cheek, but she didn't get a response.

"I haven't been able to get him to respond to me at all," An Ling told them, but just then, Henry blinked, looking up at them in confusion.

"What-" he mumbled, sitting up with Prue's help. "How'd we get here?"

"What do you remember?" Piper asked, concerned.

"We jumped through the portal and landed in Limbo," Henry said, pushing Paige's long hair away from his face. "And then everything after that is a blur."

"But, why?" Prue asked him. Looking over at An Ling, she asked, "Could it be because he's in Paige's body?"

"I wouldn't think so," An Ling said, doubtfully. "But, it is entirely possible. Limbo is still a mystery, even to Zen practitioners."

"Hey!" Phoebe suddenly snapped, and Prue turned back around to see her younger sister slapping Henry lightly on the cheek, trying to keep him awake. "Don't go floating off on us, again."

"No, I-" Henry started. "I'm okay. I just-"

He swayed, dangerously, even sitting down, only staying up with Piper's help.

"It's Paige," he told them. "She's in pain; I can feel it."

"Paige's Whitelighter powers," Prue realized. "Her sensing power must have kicked in, or something."

"Limbo can enhance magical abilities," An Ling spoke up. "It might even activate dormant powers."

"Well, we need to find Paige, fast," Henry said, with a quiet groan. "She's in bad shape."

"How?" Phoebe demanded, turning to face her sisters. "He can't even stand up, straight," she added, jerking her head at Henry, "and we're supposed to go traipsing all over Limbo?"

"We don't even know how to find Paige and An Ling's father," Piper pointed out, quietly.

"Yes, we do," Henry corrected her. "We start walking, and the closer we get to Paige, the worse I'm going to get. We'll use that to track them down."

"We're not using your pain as a compass," Prue argued, and Henry shrugged.

"Fine," he said, shortly, pushing himself to his feet with an effort. "See you."

As they watched in amazement, Henry started moving slowly away from them, stumbling painfully every few steps. He didn't let any of that deter him, however, and he just kept moving forward, stubbornly.

"I can certainly see why Paige married him," Piper muttered, as they hurried after him. "He's just as bullheaded as she is."

Prue and Piper eased onto either side of Henry, slipping his arms over their shoulders so that he could lean on them to walk. He sighed with quiet relief as they helped him, closing his eyes and trusting them to lead him across the uneven ground.

Phoebe and An Ling were walking off to the side of them, and An Ling was unwrapping the long, cloth-wrapped bundle that she'd been carrying in the Manor. She pulled out a long dagger with a blade that glowed green in the dim light.

"This is the Dragon Blade," she told them, quietly. "It is why Yen Lo attacked my father and me, and I think we can use it to defeat him."

"It looks like an ordinary dagger," Phoebe commented. "What's so special about it?"

"The Dragon Blade can be used to take a person's soul," An Ling answered. "Yen Lo wants the Blade for its power."

"Then why did you even bring it down here?" Prue asked, looking over at the other woman.

"I'm hoping that I can convince Yen Lo that I want to trade the Dragon Blade for my father," An Ling told her. "And then I'm hoping that all of us, working together, can defeat Yen Lo and send him through the Vortex where he belongs."

"I thought that the Vortex lead to the realms of the dead," Phoebe pointed out.

"When Yen Lo first attacked us," An Ling replied, "I stabbed him. It was a wound that would have been fatal, had he not retreated to Limbo to stave off his own death."

"Speak of the devil," Prue said, softly, as she, Piper, and Henry stopped. "I hear voices up ahead, and I think one of them is Yen Lo."

"That is him," An Ling confirmed, a grim expression on her face. "Yen Lo is very dangerous, and we must proceed with great caution."

They snuck forward, quietly, using the strange terrain as cover to keep from being seen. Yen Lo was pacing in front of a large, dead tree, his hands moving restlessly as he talked to someone. There were thick ropes tied around the tree, presumably holding someone to it, and Prue hoped that it was Paige and An Ling's father.

They crept closer, trying to get a better look. Their missing people were indeed tied to the tree, and Prue had a moment of disorientation to see Henry's body tied to the tree, when the man was leaning heavily on her.

_'Paige,'_ she reminded herself. _'That's Paige inside Henry's body.'_

And Paige didn't look good. She was slumped over, weakly, and it looked as though the rope was the only thing that was holding her on her feet. There was also a dark stain on her white shirt, and Prue didn't even want to think about what that could have been.

But, when Yen Lo said something, she managed to lift her head to pin the man with a vicious glare. She might have been down, but she certainly wasn't out. Not yet, anyway.

Behind Yen Lo was a stone bridge leading to something that looked like a tornado.

"The Vortex," An Ling said, softly. "Whatever you do, avoid it at all costs. If you are pulled inside, you will not come out, again."

"Got it," Henry muttered. "Avoid the Tornado of Death."

Then, he groaned, suddenly, doubling over in pain. Alerted by the noise, Yen Lo's head snapped up, looking unerringly in their direction.

"So much for proceeding with caution," Piper muttered, as the man started toward them.

She flicked out her hands, exploding the patch of ground under his feet and making him stumble. Yen Lo regained his balance, quickly, but they used the time that he was distracted to move past him toward the tree where Paige and An Ling's father were being held.

Reaching the tree, Prue flicked out a hand, using her telekinesis to untie the ropes holding Paige and An Ling's father captive. Paige slumped to the ground as soon as the ropes were untied, and Prue found herself lowering Henry to the ground a second later to keep him from crashing, as well.

"Hey, honey, you're not looking too good," Henry croaked, and Paige gave him a wry smile.

"Ditto," she whispered, leaning against Henry. "Sorry about the body swap."

"It's okay," Henry told her. "Wow, I need a shave when I'm back in my own body."

"Are you guys okay here?" Prue asked, worriedly, looking back to where Phoebe and An Ling were fighting Yen Lo.

"Go," Paige told her, closing her eyes with exhaustion. "We can't let him out of Limbo."

Prue turned, leaving Paige and Henry in the hands of An Ling's father, in time to see Phoebe go flying across the empty space toward the bridge…


	33. Chapter 33

**Author's Note: **As promised, an explanation for Phoebe's behavior. But, I can't promise that things are going to be better from here on out. As always, thank you so much to everyone who's been reading and reviewing.

**Chapter Thirty-Three**

"No!" Prue screamed, a yell that was quickly echoed by Piper as they watched Phoebe get sucked toward the Vortex.

Prue focused, and a second later, her astral form was standing on the bridge in time to catch Phoebe. She wrapped an arm protectively around her younger sister to keep her from being sucked into the Vortex, anchoring them both to the bridge with her free arm.

"Hold on, Pheebs," she gritted out, as she clung to her sister. "Don't you dare let go."

Twisting around as much as she dared, Prue watched as Piper flung out her hands, the explosive blast knocking Yen Lo to his knees. The man tried to strike out at Piper, but a bolt of lightning slammed into him, throwing him backward.

Henry was swaying where he'd forced himself up to his knees, hand still held out in front of him. Energy was crackling along his palms, and another stray bolt shot from his hand to obliterate a nearby rock.

"I can't control it," Henry called out.

"Then don't point at anything," Piper called back. "Especially us."

Then, Piper and An Ling darted forward, to where Yen Lo was just picking himself up off the ground. When he lunged at the women, An Ling thrust the Dragon Blade forward, and Yen Lo collapsed against her with a shocked look on his face.

Seconds later, to Prue's amazement, the dismal, barren landscape around them started to change. Grass grew on the dry, cracked ground, flowers sprouted up everywhere, and the sky turned a brilliant blue color. And the Vortex abruptly died down, letting go of the hold it had on Phoebe, who collapsed against Prue in relief.

Prue made sure that Phoebe was steady on her feet before she dismissed her astral form, opening her eyes to find that she was still standing beside the tree, itself now a vibrant, living thing. Phoebe, still standing on the bridge, let out a cheer, and Piper joined her as she and An Ling walked back to join everyone else. Prue was about to join them when she remembered Paige and Henry.

Looking down, she saw Paige bent over Henry's prone form, her lips moving soundlessly in a prayer as her hands glowed with healing energy. Then, Henry's eyes opened, and Paige let out a quiet sigh of relief as she slumped forward to let her forehead rest against his.

"Thought I was going to lose you, there, for a second," she murmured quietly, and Henry said something softly in response.

"Paige?" Prue said, hesitantly, not wanting to destroy the tender moment, but needing to know for sure if she was dealing with her sister.

"It's me," Paige confirmed, as she stood up and pulled Henry up after her. "When Limbo went back to normal, it reversed the body swap, as well."

"Which I, for one, am very happy for," Henry said, stretching his arms over his head. "No offense, honey, but I like being tall."

"Are you calling me short?" Paige asked, challengingly, a teasing glint in her eyes.

"Not short," Henry temporized, as he wrapped his arms around her waist. "Just –"

"Yes?" Paige prompted, raising an eyebrow at him when he trailed off.

"If you were any taller, then I wouldn't be able to do this," Henry said, quickly, as he rested his chin on top of her head. "I like that we fit together like this."

"Nice save," Paige told him, as she leaned back in her husband's embrace. Catching Prue's eye, she added, "Cute _and_ charming. I think I'll keep him."

Piper and Phoebe had joined them by then, and Piper greeted Paige with a warm grin. Phoebe nodded stiffly at the younger woman, and Prue bit back an impatient sigh. She was about to say something, when she realized that they were missing a couple of people.

"Hey," she asked, looking around, "where are An Ling and her father?"

"Over by the bridge," Piper said, quietly, nodding toward the Vortex. "An Ling is saying good-bye."

Prue looked in the direction that Piper had indicated, watching as An Ling hugged her father, tightly. Then, to Prue's amazement, the old man turned and walked across the bridge, fading into the Vortex.

"He was mortally wounded in the fight with Yen Lo," Paige said, softly.

"But, you could have healed him," Phoebe said, an accusing tone in her voice as she glared at Paige, as though the old man's injuries were her fault.

"He wouldn't have let me, even if I'd been in my own body," Paige said, shaking her head. "He knew that it was his time."

"That's not fair," Prue started to say, but then An Ling joined them, wiping tears from her eyes.

"Are you all right?" Paige asked, reaching out to the other woman, who nodded, shortly.

"I will be fine," she said, softly. "It's just going to be very hard without him."

"I know it's not much comfort, now," Paige told her, "but, the pain will get better in time."

"Thank you," An Ling murmured, nodding.

"Um," Phoebe broke in, suddenly, "where's the Dragon Blade?"

"My father took it with him through the Vortex," An Ling told her. "So that Yen Lo may be reborn."

"Next question," Henry asked, as he looked around. "How are we getting out of here? I don't really see any handy puddles of water lying around."

"I think I know how," An Ling said, with a sad smile. "My father taught me."

Reaching out, she linked hands with Prue and Piper. Phoebe, Paige, and Henry completed the circle, and then An Ling levitated upward, pulling everyone after her. Prue propelled herself with a burst of her power, to take some of the burden off An Ling, and when she saw a swirl of orbs surrounding Paige, she realized that her sister was doing the same thing, although she didn't even seem aware of it.

They traveled through the fluffy clouds that littered the sky, and a second later, they were bursting out of the puddle of water that was still on the kitchen floor. Everyone collapsed in a pile, quickly untangling themselves and climbing to their feet.

"We're home!" Piper called, and then they heard footsteps pounding on the floor.

A second later, Tyler threw himself at Paige with a happy cry, but he just as quickly pulled away with a slight frown on his face.

"Wait a minute," he said, looking between her and Henry. "Who am I hugging?"

"It's me, kiddo," Paige reassured him, as she and Henry wrapped their arms tightly around their son. "We're back to normal."

"Good," Tyler said, his voice muffled as he hugged them back. "No more getting kidnapped again, okay?" he added, speaking to both of them.

"Promise," Paige said, squeezing him tightly before she finally let go. Looking over at Henry, she added, "We should probably get going, anyway. I don't know about you, but I'm beat."

"Small problem," Henry told her. "The car is still in Chinatown."

"No, it's not," Tyler told them. "You dropped the keys in the street, and Leo and I went to get the car while we were waiting. It's parked on the street."

"Good job, Ty," Henry said, approvingly.

They went out into the living room where everyone else was, and Piper smiled at them when they entered.

"Look who's back," she said, nodding to where Andy was perched on the arm of a chair beside Prue.

"Looks like you three found Phoebe before I did," the Whitelighter said, wryly. "But, my trip down there wasn't a complete waste." Looking over at Paige, he added, "The Elders want me to bring you Up There."

"Why?" several voices chorused, at once, but Andy was still focused on Paige.

"They'll explain everything when we get Up There," he told her, apologetically. "It's – it's complicated."

"Let's get going, then," Paige said, with a sigh. She looked over at Henry with a small shrug. "So much for going home."

"We can stay until you get back," Henry offered, but Paige shook her head.

"This could take all night, whatever it is," she told him. "No, you guys should head back to the apartment, and I'll have Andy drop me off when we're done."

"Be careful," Henry said, seriously, and Paige nodded.

"I will," she promised him.

She kissed her husband good-bye and hugged Tyler, and then she stepped back and clasped the hand that Andy held out to her. They disappeared in a bright swirl of lights.

"Let's get going, buddy," Henry said to Tyler, draping an arm across his shoulders. Turning to An Ling, he added, "Would you like a ride home?"

"That would be lovely, thank you," An Ling said, gratefully.

Bidding their goodbyes to everyone, the three of them left, shutting the door quietly behind them. Piper, on the couch, curled into Leo's arms in the silence that followed, sighing with contentment.

"Well, this was certainly an exciting day," Prue said, as relaxed into her chair. "You are over the whole evil thing, right Pheebs?" she added, looking at her younger sister.

"Definitely," Phoebe sighed, curling against Cole's side where they were snuggling on one of the oversized chairs. "I'm still not happy about my powers being in Cole – no offense, sweetie."

"None taken," Cole assured her.

"Pheebs, that was an accident," Piper pointed out.

"Yeah," Phoebe snorted. "Some accident."

"Phoebe," Prue began, but her younger sister was apparently on a roll, and not about to be stopped.

"I mean," she ranted, "it's not bad enough that I was trapped down in Hell for a week; now I'm powerless on top of it all."

"I wrote the spell," Piper reminded her, knowing what she was still obsessing over. "If anyone screwed up that spell, it was me."

But, Phoebe just shook her head, angrily.

"Paige never should have been saying that spell with you," she insisted. "She's not one of us."

"Phoebe, she's our sister," Prue pointed out. "She helped us find you in the first place."

"Well, all hail the Amazing Paige, then," Phoebe spit out, her eyes flashing, furiously. "I'm so glad that you two are so enamored with her."

Prue shook her head, ready to put a stop to her sister's ranting, but Phoebe didn't let her get a word in edgewise.

"I didn't know if Tempus had really reversed time; I didn't even know if you two were alive or dead," she snapped, glaring at her sisters. "I was fighting for my life down there, and I had no idea if I even had a family to come home to. And here you were, gallivanting around with a new sister."

"Phoebe, we looked for you every day," Piper insisted.

"But, it didn't work, did it?" Phoebe snapped. "I still had to rescue us by myself. Nothing you did helped."

Piper rocked back like she'd just been slapped, but Phoebe wasn't finished.

"But, that's okay," she went on, a bitter tone to her voice. "I guess you were just having too much fun with your new sister to try and get us out of Hell. Heck, you vanquished Shax together, from what I understand. You don't even need me, anymore. You have Paige, now; she can be your new Charmed One."

Abruptly, she stood up, brushing off Cole's hand that he put on her arm.

"I'm tired," she said, shortly. "See you in the morning."

She stormed up the stairs, leaving her family staring after her in disbelief. Piper was the first to speak.

"Well, that went well," she said, sarcastically. Looking over at Prue, she added, "What are we supposed to do, now?"


	34. Chapter 34

**Author's Note:** Thank you so much to everyone who's been reading and reviewing. You guys are awesome.

**Chapter Thirty-Four**

It was late when Cole joined Phoebe in bed. He cautiously slid an arm around her waist, uncertain of the reception he was going to receive, but she just snuggled up against his chest with a quiet sigh.

"Sorry I've been such lousy company, tonight," she murmured, sleepily. "I'm just really tired."

"It's been a long day," Cole reminded her. Then, he hesitated, unsure of how to phrase his next sentence. "Phoebe," he finally said, "about what you were saying earlier-"

"I need to apologize to my sisters in the morning," Phoebe replied. "I know that they did everything they could to look for us; I was just frustrated with everything that's been happening."

"I think that you should apologize to Paige, too," Cole ventured, knowing that he wasn't likely to get as good a response to that request.

And he was right. Phoebe whipped around to stare at him in disbelief, her lips pressed into a tight line.

"I've been nothing but civil to that little interloper," she snapped, irritably.

"Discounting the fact that you tried to kill her when you had my powers," Cole argued, "you've been incredibly rude to Paige. Phoebe, you accused her of stealing your powers."

"Oh, so you're taking her side, now?" Phoebe demanded, incredulously.

"There are no sides, Phoebe," Cole said, with a tired sigh. "And, she's your sister."

"Being related by blood doesn't make her my sister," Phoebe growled at him. "I have two sisters; I don't need another one."

"Phoebe, once you get to know her-" Cole tried to say, but Phoebe cut him off.

"I'm not the least bit interested in getting to know her," she snapped. "As far as I'm concerned, she can just go the hell away and leave my family alone."

"She got married, yesterday," Cole continued, still trying to win Phoebe over to the younger woman's side. "Piper told me that she and Prue were her bridesmaids. She even wore your mother's wedding dress."

That was apparently the completely wrong thing to say, because Phoebe stared at him, fury rolling in her eyes.

"She wore Mom's dress?" she gritted out, her voice barely more than a loud whisper. "What is she going to steal, next?"

"She's the only reason that Leo and I are still alive, right now," Cole argued, but it was clear that Phoebe wasn't listening to him.

Cole shook his head in disbelief, looking at her, sadly.

"What happened to you, Phoebe?" he asked. "This isn't the woman that I fell in love with."

"The woman that you fell in love with died when we were trapped in the Underworld," Phoebe said, coldly.

Then, without another word, she rolled back over and firmly closed her eyes, ignoring Cole's attempts to talk to her. He finally gave up trying to talk to Phoebe when it became clear that she was just going to go on ignoring him. Closing his eyes, he fell into a fitful sleep.

He woke up some indeterminate time later, haunted by lingering dreams filled with fire and death. He bolted upright, startled and extremely disoriented, and it took him a few seconds to regain his bearings. For those few seconds, he didn't know where he was, until he heard Phoebe breathing softly beside him. The room was almost completely dark, the curtains over the window letting in only the merest slip of light from the full moon outside.

But, it was that slip of light that saved all their lives.

He heard a soft shushing sound, like something being dragged across the carpet. A second later, he caught a flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye, and he levitated up to the ceiling in time to see the bedroom door open. Then, a hulking demon, his face cast in shadow, crept noiselessly into the room.

The demon summoned an energy ball into the palm of his hand, standing over Phoebe's sleeping form, menacingly, but he never stood a chance. Cole threw an energy ball of his own, watching in satisfaction as the demon burst into flames and died.

The noise from the vanquish woke Phoebe up, and she bolted upright in bed, her hand going under her pillow and pulling out a sharp athame from where she'd hidden it. She held the blade in a long-practiced grip as she looked around the room, her gaze lighting on Cole as he slowly floated back down to the floor.

"Were you levitating?" she asked, as she slid the knife back under her pillow.

"There was a demon," Cole told her, shortly. "I vanquished him."

"In the middle of the night?" Phoebe asked, clearly puzzled. "Demons don't attack us at night."

"Looks like they do, now," Cole replied, but the rest of his words were drowned out by an outraged scream coming from down the hall.

Cole ran around the bed and headed for the door, Phoebe right on his heels as they sprinted down the hallway. At the end of the hall, Prue's bedroom door flew open suddenly, and a man came flying out to crash heavily into the wall. The man – demon, rather, Cole amended, watching as his eyes flashed yellow – jumped back to his feet, but another blow from Prue had him crashing back to the floor.

Cole finished the demon off with an energy ball, getting a short nod of thanks from Prue, and the three of them headed for Piper and Leo's room.

Piper came storming out of her room before they reached it, a furious expression on her face.

"I was just attacked by a demon!" she raged, and everyone instinctively ducked out of the way of her wildly-gesturing hands. "Some red-haired bitch just tried to stab me while I was sleeping."

"Are you okay?" Phoebe asked, worriedly, and Piper nodded.

"I'm fine," she grumbled. "I blew her up. But, still, a demon attack in the middle of the night?"

"Brute demon with an energy ball," Cole supplied, when Piper fell silent. "I vanquished him before he could do anything."

"Mine's dead, too," Prue added, gesturing to the scorch mark on the wall behind them. "And that's going to be a pain to get out."

"Three attacks?" Piper asked, incredulously. "What, are we on some kind of hit list?"

"Actually, that's not far off," came Leo's oddly-distant voice, and Cole looked over to see the other man just orbing into the hallway.

Andy was right behind him, and both Whitelighters had nearly-identical grim expressions on their faces.

"The Elders think that this is just the first strike," Andy said, picking up on Leo's thread of conversation. "Demons are trying to impress the Source by killing you three. They're attacking now, hoping to catch you off guard."

"Well," Prue said, looking around the hallway, "I think it's safe to say that we sent a message, tonight. And we'll be ready for them, no matter what time they attack."

"Except that we're not the only ones in danger," Piper said, suddenly, dread in her voice.

Cole got it, immediately, Piper's words reminding him of the premonition he'd gotten off Paige, earlier. The one he hadn't had a chance to tell her about.

"If the demons are going after us," Piper continued, "then they're going to go after Paige, too."

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"So, what did the Elders want to talk about?"

Paige looked up from where she was getting dressed for bed, her hair flying wildly around her face as she pulled her knee-length sleep shirt over her head.

"Christy Jenkins, actually," she told him.

"What?" Henry demanded, incredulously, keeping his voice down to keep from waking Tyler up where he was sleeping in the living room. "Why could they possibly want to talk about her?"

"Because Andy found her when he went down to the Underworld," Paige said, with a sigh, as she dropped down onto the edge of the bed. "Because of my history with her and her sister, they wanted to keep me in the loop."

"Keep you in the loop about what?" Henry asked.

"What they're going to do with her and Billie, apparently," Paige told him. "They had convened a special council to discuss the situation, and they wanted my advice."

"What did you say?" Henry asked, curiously.

"I couldn't tell them much," Paige admitted. "I mean, I remember that she'd been kidnapped by demons as a kid, and that she and Billie were potentially dangerous, but not much more than that."

"They're the ones who killed Piper and Phoebe in the future," Henry told her, and Paige swore, softly.

"I wish I'd known that earlier," she said, ruefully.

"What did you tell the Elders that they should do?" Henry asked her.

"Strip them both of their powers, and Christy's memories of the Underworld," Paige told him. "Then, they should send them back to their parents, to live the rest of their lives as mortals."

"That's probably the only thing you could have said," Henry said, after thinking about it for a moment. "I just-"

"I saw Christy Up There," Paige told him, gently. "I don't really remember what she was like in the future, but she was just a scared kid, today. Henry, she was completely terrified. And some of the Elders certainly didn't make things better."

"What happened?" Henry asked, sympathetically, sitting down beside her.

"Think Spanish Inquisition without the thumbscrews," Paige said, wryly. "And Odin kept shutting me out every time I tried to intervene. Christy finally just shut down completely, and she wouldn't talk to anyone. Sandra finally put an end to things, and that's when they sent me home."

"So, what are they going to do?" Henry asked, and Paige shrugged.

"I don't know," she told him. "All I was told was that they would take my advice into consideration. Sandra told me, privately, that she'd keep me apprised of whatever happens."

"I don't know if I like the idea of those two running around loose," Henry said, quietly.

"It's out of our hands," Paige reminded him.

"I just don't want to have to live through that hell, again," Henry sighed, quietly.

"We'll protect our family, no matter what," Paige said, firmly. "At least this time we can be prepared for it. Of course," she added, ruefully, "it would be easier if I could remember everything."

"You will," Henry told her, as they turned down the covers on the bed and climbed inside. "It'll just take some time."

"Yeah," Paige sighed, as she curled up against Henry, with her head resting on his chest. "Hopefully not too much time."

She closed her eyes as Henry wrapped his arms around her waist, and they dropped off to sleep almost immediately. When Henry woke up some time later, the apartment was quiet, and he couldn't figure out what had disturbed his rest.

Paige was sleeping peacefully beside him, her long hair fanned out over her pillow. Henry reached out, running his fingers gently through her hair, and Paige stirred at the contact. She blinked at him, slowly, a sleepy smile coming over her face.

Then, the smile disappeared, replaced by a wide-eyed panic. She threw herself over Henry before he could react, and he could only watch in horror as an energy ball sailed through the air to graze across Paige's back.

Paige gritted her teeth against the pain, thrusting her hand out to send a lightning bolt towards the far wall. Then, she swore softly under her breath when it only hit the wall.

"Demon," she hissed, unnecessarily. "She just shimmered away."

"Not for long," Henry told her, catching sight of the demon as she shimmered in on the opposite side of the room.

Paige growled as she twisted around, a spurt of flame springing up into the palm of her hand. But, before she could throw it, the demon smiled at them, gesturing broadly. Then, she shimmered away as the room around them burst into flames…


	35. Chapter 35

**Author's Note:** Thank you so much to everyone who's been reading and reviewing. You guys are awesome.

**Chapter Thirty-Five**

Practically every surface in the room lit on fire at the same time, leaving them sitting in the middle of an inferno. Henry could feel his eyes watering from the thick smoke that filled the room, and he choked when he tried to breathe. And every breath he managed to take was filled with agonizing pain, the intense heat searing his lungs.

"We have to get out of here!" Paige shouted, suddenly, in his ear, yelling to make herself heard over the noise of the fire. "We have to get to Tyler-"

She broke off on the last word, bent double as she coughed, painfully. Henry grabbed the back of her sleep shirt, managing to drag them both off the bed and onto the floor. The air was marginally cooler down there, and it was slightly less painful to breathe.

"Can't you summon rain, or something?" he asked, coughing as they crawled toward the door, keeping as low to the floor as possible.

"I tried," came Paige's raspy answer. "The fire is so hot that it burns up the clouds before I can get any water in them."

When they reached the door, Henry used the wall to pull himself up, helping Paige to her feet, as well. Then, he unthinkingly reached for the door knob, hissing in pain when he burned the palm of his hand.

"Careful," Paige snapped at him, yanking his hand away from the door knob. "Limbo was an anomaly; I can't heal you up here."

Then, she sent a burst of wind straight at the door. The wood around the hinges splintered instantly when she hit them, and Henry kicked the broken door away from the frame. They burst out of the bedroom and into the living room, stopping in horror at what they saw.

The couch where Tyler had been sleeping was engulfed in flames.

"NO!" Henry yelled, his mind absolutely refusing to accept what his eyes were telling him.

Beside him, Paige screamed with grief, a wordless sound filled with agony and rage. They bolted forward, heedless of the fire that surrounded them, and Henry reached for the body he could see lying motionless in the flames.

The heat seared at his skin, the pain almost unbearable, but he grabbed Tyler by the shoulders, intending to pull his son off the couch and into his arms. Then, he jerked back in surprise as Tyler opened his eyes at the contact, sitting up on the couch with a confused look on his face.

The boy shouted when he realized that he was on fire, but the sound was more surprised than anything else. He bolted upright, dancing around as he slapped at the flames on his arms. Henry pulled his shirt off, using the fabric to smother the flames, and Tyler collapsed into their arms when he was done.

"There are no burns," Paige said, stunned, as she quickly checked Tyler over. "Not a single mark."

"Maybe my power makes me immune," Tyler suggested, his voice muffled. "It didn't hurt; I didn't even know I was on fire until I woke up."

"Thank god," Paige breathed, holding tightly onto Tyler.

"We still have to get out of here," Henry said, urgently, steering them toward the front door.

Out in the hallway, people were pouring out of their apartments and headed for the stairs. Amazingly, most of their neighbors were managing to keep their heads in the chaos, with several people keeping everyone else moving toward safety.

The hallway was relatively smoke free, with the fires mostly confined to the individual apartments. Henry was about to comment on how strange it was, when he saw the look of intense concentration on Paige's face as she worked to contain as much of the fire as she could.

They'd almost made it to the stairs when they heard a shout from further down the hallway. Henry looked up to see Erin Malloy standing in front of her apartment, sobbing wildly. The three of them ran to her side, to see her apartment completely consumed with flames.

"Erin, you need to get out of here," Henry told the woman, grabbing her by her shoulder. "Where are your kids?"

"Danny and Mark are downstairs," Carol said, still sobbing. "But-"

She broke off, her voice catching as she lost control and buried her face in her hands.

"Erin, what happened?" Paige demanded, insistently. "Where's your daughter?"

"Lindsey ran in after the puppy!" Erin cried, her voice tinged with hysteria. "Everything's burning – my baby-"

"I can go in after her," Tyler said, quietly, getting Henry's attention as Paige held the traumatized woman. "You saw it; I can't get hurt."

Henry met Paige's eyes, silently asking her what she thought. After a moment, Paige gave the tiniest of nods.

Seeing the exchange, Tyler didn't wait. He darted through the flames, to be quickly swallowed up by the thick smoke that filled the apartment. Henry reached out for Paige's hand, squeezing her fingers in an almost painful grip as they waited anxiously for their son to return.

An agonizing two minutes passed, and then Tyler ran out into the hallway, a little girl and a soot-tinged puppy clutched in his arms.

"I found them hiding under her bed," Tyler gasped out, as they sprinted toward the stairs, Paige practically dragging Erin with her as the other woman clutched her daughter to her chest.

"You did good, kiddo," Henry told him. "Real good."

They pounded their way down the stairs to the lobby, Paige and Tyler using their powers to push the fire out of their way. Then, after what seemed like forever, they burst out of the front doors and out into the cool night air.

There were already fire trucks and ambulances lined up on the side of the street, Henry could hear more sirens in the distance, getting closer and closer. They found themselves being grabbed by a pair of paramedics, and they were all quickly bustled into the back of one of the ambulances for emergency treatment.

Paige and Tyler huddled together on one of the benches, both holding oxygen masks over their faces as they were checked over by one of the paramedics. Henry was being examined by the other paramedic, holding his burned arms gingerly out in front of him. The screaming of the sirens as they sped down the streets filled the air.

"You okay, honey?" Paige asked, her voice muffled by the mask.

"I'll be better once we get to the hospital," Henry said, wincing in pain at the paramedic's ministrations.

"We're almost there," the driver called back, reassuringly. "Just another couple of minutes."

The hospital was crowded when they arrived, and Paige and Tyler were shuffled off to one of the larger waiting rooms, which had been hastily converted into a treatment area. Henry was taken back to the emergency department to have his burns looked at.

"Henry's going to be okay, right?" Tyler asked, where he was plastered against Paige's side.

"He's going to be fine," Paige reassured him, wrapping her arm around his shoulders. "When we get out of here, we'll have Leo heal him."

"When we get out of here," Tyler echoed, quietly. "Where are we going to go? We don't have a home, anymore."

"We'll be okay," Paige declared. When a passing nurse looked pointedly at the oxygen mask dangling from her hand, she put it back over her face. "We'll stay with my sisters, or at a hotel, or something."

About half an hour later, Tyler had fallen asleep leaning against Paige, his breathing slow and even. Paige could feel herself starting to fall asleep as well, but she kept jerking herself back to wakefulness every time she started to drift off. Henry hadn't come back from being treated, and she wanted to be awake when he returned.

Her nerves were the other thing that kept her from falling asleep. She kept replaying everything that had happened, earlier, kept seeing every moment in her mind with crystal clarity. The one image she kept coming back to, over and over, was Tyler wreathed in flames.

She looked up when she sensed someone standing over her, but to her disappointment, it wasn't Henry. Instead, Andy was standing in front of her, a frown on his face.

"We need to talk," he said, softly, and Paige nodded.

She eased away from Tyler and got him settled across the seats they'd been sitting in. When the boy mumbled in protest, Paige ran her fingers gently through his hair.

"Go back to sleep, kiddo," she murmured, softly. "I'll be right back, okay?"

She followed Andy down the hall, far enough away that they wouldn't be overheard. Leaning against the wall, she rubbed at the headache she could feel forming in her temples, her eyes drifting involuntarily closed. When she opened her eyes, again, she found Andy watching her with a sympathetic look on his face.

"You okay?" the Whitelighter asked, and Paige let out a short bark of laughter.

"This has been a really shitty night," she said, aware that her voice was tinged with hysteria. "I could have lost them both, tonight, Andy. That crazy bitch _lit my son_ _on fire_!"

Her voice broke on a sob on the last word, and when Andy wrapped his arms around her shoulders, she leaned against his chest without protest. Her shoulders shook as she cried, the stress of the last hour finally catching up with her. And she couldn't seem to get herself under control; painful sobs wracked her body and she knew that she was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

She could hear Andy talking, but she couldn't make out what he was saying. She just listened to the cadence of his voice and she breathed, trying to slow down her racing heartbeat. Finally, she could feel her tears starting to dry up and she wasn't shaking as badly as before.

"Sorry," she muttered, sheepishly, as she pulled away from Andy to lean against the wall, again. "I wasn't intending to fall apart on you, like that."

"It's okay," Andy said, soothingly. "After everything that's happened, I think you've earned the right to have a breakdown."

Paige gave him a small smile, nodding shortly. "You said that we had to talk," she reminded him.

"Officially," Andy told her, "I'm here as one of the cops investigating the fire at your apartment building."

"Investigating?" Paige echoed. "Aren't you kind of dead?"

"Our good friends, the Cleaners, erased any memory of my death," Andy replied, wryly. "Apparently, the Elders figured out that working with your sisters was going to involve a certain amount of interaction with the mortal world, and I can't do that if people think I'm dead."

"Points to the Elders for actually doing something useful, for once," Paige muttered, wryly. "Okay, so you're looking into the cause of the fire. Please don't tell me they suspect demons."

"From the looks of things," Andy told her, "the fire seems to be the result of a massive electrical short that occurred simultaneously in several apartments throughout the building."

"Well, that's actually really convenient," Paige said, relieved. "So, we're actually covered on the magical front?"

"For once," Andy replied.

"So, if that's the official business," Paige asked, "what's the unofficial?"

"Unofficially," Andy told her, "I'm here as your Whitelighter, to make sure that you're all right."

"We're not hurt," Paige answered. "I'm still not sure about all right. But, how did you know that we were in trouble?"

"Your sisters were attacked, too," Andy told her. "They're fine," he hastened to reassure her, when she looked at him in a panic. "No one was hurt."

"Thank god," Paige muttered, breathing quietly in relief.

"The Elders don't think that it's a coincidence that you were all attacked, tonight," Andy said, gravely. "They think that you and your sisters are being targeted."

"With my son and my husband getting caught in the middle," Paige said, bitterly. "When I see that bitch, again, she's dead."

"I think your sisters will be more than happy to help you," Andy told her, " When you three are released from the hospital, I'm supposed to bring you back to the Manor. Prue and Piper aren't taking no for an answer."

"That's fine," Paige sighed, closing her eyes as she let her head fall back against the wall. "I'm sorry, it's just-"

"Been a really long day?" Andy said, sympathetically, and Paige nodded.

She felt his hand on her shoulder a second later, and a warmth spread through her as he healed the injuries she'd sustained during the last day. Her back, not to mention her shoulder where she'd gotten hit by Phoebe's energy ball, had been screaming in agony, but the dull roar of pain finally, gratefully subsided, and she breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

"Thanks," she said, quietly, and she leaned on the Whitelighter as they made their way back to the impromptu treatment area.

Henry had finally been treated and released, and he was sitting beside Tyler, who was awake. Henry smiled tiredly when he saw her, standing and hugging her awkwardly with two heavily bandaged forearms. He was wearing scrubs to replace his burned clothing, and his skin was pale against the dark blue fabric.

"I'm so glad you're okay," he murmured, softly. "I don't ever want to lose you, again."

"I love you," Paige replied, feeling tears spring to her eyes, again. "Both of you," she added, as she pulled Tyler into their embrace.

"I have to finish talking to your neighbors," Andy said, as he reached out and healed Henry with a casual hand on the other man's shoulders. "And then I'll take you all back to the Manor, okay?" To Henry, he added, "You might want to take those bandages off after you're out of the hospital."

"Got it," Paige told him. "We're not going anywhere."

So saying, she and Henry took seats on either side of Tyler, holding their son and each other. Another hour passed before Andy came back to get them, and after finding a secluded hallway, the four of them orbed back to the Manor.

Prue, Piper, and Phoebe were waiting for them when they arrived. Phoebe had been nearly motionless on the couch, while Prue paced with restless energy. From the clattering coming from the kitchen, Paige guessed that Piper was in the other room, using cooking as a way to distract herself. But, when she heard them, the other woman came out into the living room, drying her hands on a towel.

"We're fine, and no one's hurt," Paige said, quickly, when she saw the worried looks on her sisters' faces.

"Thank god," Piper said, hugging Paige, hard. "I can't believe the demons attacked your entire apartment building."

"Probably trying to make sure that they really got us," Henry said, wryly, his arm slung across Tyler's shoulders. "Thank you for letting us stay here."

"You're family," Prue said, firmly. "We're not going to hear of you staying anywhere else."

"We cleaned out Grams' old sewing room," Piper told them, as they went upstairs. "It's not much, but-"

"No, it's fine, really," Paige reassured her. "Right now, I could fall asleep on a concrete slab."

After bidding good-night to her sisters, they went inside the small room and closed the door behind them. The walls were lined with dusty cardboard boxes that had clearly been hastily pushed there from the middle of the room. A pair of dingy curtains covered the window on the far wall, and a trio of sleeping bags had been arranged in the middle of the floor.

"Home sweet home," Henry said, with a quiet sigh, as they climbed into their sleeping bags.

According to her watch, it was about two-thirty in the morning, but Paige had no problem falling asleep once she'd closed her eyes. But, she didn't stay asleep for long, an uneasy sensation jerking her out of a fitful sleep.

Opening her eyes, she saw that the bedroom door was open a crack, and Henry's sleeping bag was empty. After checking to make sure that Tyler was still asleep, she quietly got to her feet and padded out into the hallway.

She found her husband sitting at the top of the stairs, staring off into the distance with a lost expression on his face. Sitting down next to Henry, Paige leaned against him, threading her fingers with his. She didn't say anything, just held onto him, and when his head dropped onto her shoulder, shuddering sobs wracking his frame, she was ready to catch him when he fell.

"We're okay," she crooned, softly, as Henry fell apart in her arms. "We're safe, I promise."

She continued murmuring quiet nonsense as he clung to her. And they sat together on the stairs as the sun slowly rose in the sky, thin streaks of light creeping in through the windows.


	36. Chapter 36

**Author's Note: **Sorry for the long wait; I hope you enjoy the chapter. Thank you so much to all of my readers. You guys are awesome, and I love hearing what you think.

**Chapter Thirty-Six**

"No – no – don't put me on hold-"

Paige groaned as tinny music filled her ears, the cheerful sound clashing with her rapidly-darkening mood. Turning sharply on her heel, she paced back across the kitchen with the cordless phone trapped between her ear and shoulder, shooting a desperate glance at the slowly-filling coffee pot.

"Still fighting with the credit card company?" Henry asked, distractedly, glancing up from the stack of papers he was filling out.

"This is the third time in an hour that I've been put on hold," she growled, as she slumped down into a chair beside her husband. "All I want to do is order new cards. Why is that so hard?"

"I'll trade you dealing with the credit card company for filling out the insurance paperwork," Henry said, gesturing to the papers he was dealing with.

"No, thanks," Paige replied, as Henry smirked at her. "I can't believe the insurance company was even open this early."

"The entire apartment building went up in flames," Henry pointed out, unnecessarily. "They're dealing with claims from everyone who lives there, and they probably want as few headaches as possible. The fact that it's going easier on us, as well, is just an added bonus."

"Too bad I can't get a little of that consideration from the credit card company," Paige grumbled. Then, her attention snapped back to her phone when she heard a voice saying her name. "Yes, I'm here."

"Now," the woman on the other end of the line was saying, "I understand that you're trying to replace your credit card?"

"Right," Paige told her, pleased to finally be getting somewhere. "Mine was lost, last night."

"Was it stolen?" the woman asked, and Paige could hear the clicking of computer keys in the background.

"More like melted," Paige said, wryly. "I was in an apartment fire, last night."

There was a stunned silence on the other end of the line, as though the woman hadn't been expecting that kind of answer. Then, she cleared her throat, awkwardly, and resumed typing.

"If I could get your name," she prompted Paige, "so that I can pull up your account information-"

Fifteen minutes later, Paige hung up the phone with a quiet sigh of relief. Her head was pounding, and she desperately needed coffee. Luckily, the coffee pot had finally finished filling.

Grabbing a cup from the cupboard, she poured herself a drink and had to resist the urge to inhale it right where she was standing. She poured a second cup for Henry, passing it to her husband who took the cup with a smile.

"You told the credit rep that your last name was Mitchell," he said, after they sat in silence for a few seconds.

"Matthews-Mitchell, technically," Paige corrected him. "It's what I signed on our marriage license."

"I thought that you wanted to keep your last name," Henry commented, and Paige shrugged.

"I am, in a way," she told him. "Besides, using both names has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"

"It does," Henry replied, smiling at her. "Although, now I have to go through and fix some of these forms," he muttered, but there was no heat in his voice.

"Give it here," Paige told him, reaching for the stack of papers. "I found a spell in the Book; kind of like magical white-out."

"What about the personal gain issue?" Henry asked, worriedly.

"Honey, considering that demons burned us out of our home," Paige told him, "and are the whole reason we're dealing with this mess, I'd think a little personal gain is the least of our problems."

When Prue entered the room about a minute later, she looked at the two of them with a surprised expression on her face.

"And here I thought that I was an early riser," she commented, as she made a beeline for the coffee pot.

"We've got about a million things to take care of," Paige told her. "Insurance claims, new credit cards-"

"New driver's licenses," Henry spoke up, and Paige groaned.

"Aka, three hours in Hell," she muttered.

"Necessary evil, honey," Henry told her. Glancing up at Prue, he added, "Headed into work?"

"Yeah," Prue replied. "Do either of you need me to drop you off, somewhere?"

"Nah, we're good," Paige said, answering for both of them. "We're going to take the bus to the DMV, and then back to the apartment building to get our cars."

"I could use a ride if you're offering," a voice spoke up, and Phoebe bolted into the kitchen to grab Prue's cup of coffee out of her hands. "Because I have a job interview."

"You've been trapped in the Underworld for the past week," Henry said, raising an eyebrow at her.

"It was for a job that I'd applied for about a month ago," Phoebe answered. "They called me this morning and asked me to come in for an interview. Which is in less than an hour, so I have to get ready."

"Well, good luck," Paige called, as Phoebe ran out of the kitchen. Then, she rolled her eyes as her words were ignored.

"She hates my guts," she said, shaking her head.

"Phoebe doesn't hate you," Piper said, in a horribly unconvincing tone, as she came into the kitchen in time to hear Paige's comment. At her younger sister's raised eyebrow, Piper relented, "Okay, yeah, she kind of hates you."

"Phoebe thinks that we're trying to replace her in the Power of Three," Prue said, reluctantly, sounding like she really didn't want to say it.

"That's ridiculous," Paige scoffed. "I'm not a Charmed One, anymore. I have my own life, now, and my own destiny."

"I didn't say that she was being rational about it," Prue told her. "Listen, just give Phoebe time and everything will blow over."

"Yeah, we'll see," Paige muttered. Then, she looked up at as Tyler stumbled into the kitchen, rubbing sleep from his eyes. "What are you doing up, honey? You should still be sleeping."

"I have school," Tyler said, stifling a huge yawn behind his hand.

"You sure, kiddo?" Henry asked. "Because, we could always call you in sick, let you get some more sleep."

"I want to go," Tyler told them. "We've got a big test, today, and I don't want to miss it."

"Looks like we've got another stop to make, then," Henry commented, glancing over at Paige.

"Sure you don't want that ride?" Prue asked.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Two hours later, Paige settled into the driver's seat of her car with a relieved sigh. The DMV had been just as busy as she'd expected, but thankfully there hadn't been much a hassle to get their new licenses. Then, she and Henry had headed back to the burned husk of their apartment building.

The damage was even worse when seen in the daytime. The demons had done their job well, and nothing in the building had escaped destruction. The only good to come out of any of it was that, miraculously, no one had died.

But, that was where the good luck ended. Paige had orbed herself and Henry up to the remains of their apartments, where they found the charred remains of their personal belongings. They'd worked to salvage as much as they could between the two apartments, and Paige had used the Object of Objection spell to repair what she could. It hadn't been much, but at least they hadn't lost everything.

She and Henry had loaded their cars up with everything they'd managed to save, and they were going to store it back at the Manor. Paige was intending to go there after she stopped off at work.

She'd only been driving for a couple of minutes when she got a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. She looked out of the window to see a rundown old Victorian up ahead. She passed the old house every day she went to work, and it always gave her the same reaction, the same feeling of dread pooling in her gut.

Before, she'd just laughed the reaction off as superstition, had called herself silly every time she found herself speeding past the house. But, now she wasn't so sure, especially since all of her instincts were practically screaming at her that something was seriously wrong, there.

Parking her car on the side of the street, Paige sat in the car, tapping her fingers on the steering wheel as she stared pensively at the house across the street.

_'I'd feel a lot better about this if I could remember why this house is so creepy,'_ she thought, wryly, as she debated whether or not to go up to the house.

Part of her wanted to go, to find out what was really inside that old house. The other, saner part screamed for caution, telling her to call her sisters and wait until they'd arrived before she did anything.

_'They'd probably be pissed at me if I didn't call them,'_ she reasoned, reaching for her cell phone.

First, she tried Piper's cell phone, and then Prue's, but both phones went straight to voicemail. Then, she hesitated before dialing the next number, but it had to be done.

"Hello?" Phoebe answered her cell phone, about thirty seconds later, and Paige winced at the sound of her voice.

"Hey, Phoebe," she said, trying to sound cheerful.

"Oh, Paige," came the flat answer, and there was a definite lack of enthusiasm in her older sister's voice. "What's up?"

"Well, I think I've got a demonic problem," Paige told her, "and I could use your guys' help."

"What kind of problem?" Phoebe asked. "Do you know who the demon is?"

"Well, no," Paige admitted. "There's this creepy house, and it's always given me a shiver when I go by it, and lately, the feeling's been getting worse. I know there's something up about this house."

"A shiver," Phoebe repeated, skeptically. "You felt a shiver."

"There's something going on with this place," Paige insisted.

"Or," Phoebe told her, "you're just cold. Maybe when you've been a witch for more than five minutes," she continued, in a snippy tone, "you'll be able to tell the difference between sensing evil and needing a heavier jacket."

"Gee, Sis," Paige said, sarcastically. "Thanks for the support."

"I have to go," Phoebe snapped. "They're about to call me in for a second interview." Then, without so much as a good-bye, the phone went dead in her ear.

"Well, that went well," Paige muttered to herself as she snapped her phone shut.

She considered trying Piper and Prue's phones, again, but she hesitated before dialing, wondering if her other sisters were going to have the same reaction. She was still arguing silently with herself a few minutes later when she heard the roar of an engine from down the street.

A motorcycle pulled into the driveway of the house and a couple got off the bike. The passenger, a young woman, pulled her helmet off to shake out her long, blonde hair, and the driver took his own helmet off, although Paige couldn't make out his face.

For a second, she was still torn over what to do, but when the pair started toward the house, her mind was immediately made up. Jumping out of her car, Paige sprinted across the street, trying to reach them before they went inside. The young man had his hand on the doorknob as she ran up the driveway, pulling the door open, but Paige made a sharp gesture with her hand, generating a burst of wind that ripped the doorknob out of his hand and slammed the door shut with a loud bang.

"You can't go in there," she gasped out, as she reached the porch. "Trust me, you do not want to go into that house."

"This is my house," the young man argued, and Paige got another disorienting sense of déjà vu as she looked at him.

But, she didn't get the sense that he was evil. She couldn't exactly remember who he was, which was frustrating, but she didn't get the feeling that he was the demon that she was after.

When the couple moved toward the door, again, Paige quickly moved between them and the door, blocking access to the house with her body.

"You can't go in there," she repeated, insistently. "There is something very bad in that house."

Something in her expression must have convinced the young man, because he turned to his companion with an apologetic look on his face.

"Carol, I'm sorry," he told her, as he gently steered her off the porch and back toward the sidewalk. "It's just not going to happen, tonight. I have to deal with this, first."

"Yeah, you should get rid of the crazy ex-girlfriend before you call me, again," Carol snapped, glaring at Paige.

As she stormed away down the driveway, Paige resisted the urge to yell after the other woman, to inform her that she was saving her life, but there were more important matters at the moment. Like the young man standing in front of her with his arms crossed over his chest, staring pointedly at her.

"Just who are you?" he demanded, and Paige returned his glare, keeping her own arms loose by her sides in case she needed to use her powers, suddenly.

"I'm the witch who's trying to save your ass," she hissed, angrily. "I know there's a demon in that house, but what I don't understand is why you keep bringing him victims."

"Because I don't have a choice!" the young man shot back, harshly. "Gammill made me, and he'd destroy me if I tried to betray him."

"What do you mean, he made you?" Paige asked, confused. "What is that, some kind of Mafia thing?"

"No, he literally made me," the young man went on. "Out of clay. I'm a golem."

"That's new," Paige remarked, and the young man just jerked his shoulder in a quick shrug. "Hey," she said, suddenly. "What's your name?"

"I'm Finn," he told her.

"Well, Finn," she said, "I'm Paige. And I need you to tell me everything about Gammill so that I can vanquish him."


	37. Chapter 37

**Author's Note: **Thank you so much to everyone who's been reading and reviewing. You guys are awesome, and I love hearing what you think.

**Chapter Thirty-Seven**

It took about fifteen minutes for the two of them, working together, to formulate a plan to vanquish Gammill. Paige had been pleased to hear that, while Finn had promised to bring a young woman back to the house for Gammill to prey on, he hadn't told the demon what his prospective victim looked like.

Their entire plan hinged on that one, all-important detail.

It had been easy to decide that Paige was going to take Carol's place as Gammill's victim. It had been less so to figure out how they were going to get his shrinking wand away from him, before he could use it on either of them.

They'd finally decided on an outright attack, with Paige going after Gammill with everything she had while Finn went after the wand. Paige figured that they'd have one chance at it, and if they messed it up, then they were screwed.

"You ready?" Finn asked, softly, as if he could hear her thoughts, and Paige nodded, determinedly.

As Finn opened the front door, she resolutely pushed any lingering doubts to the back of her mind. There was no turning back, now, and any hesitation was likely to get either of them killed.

"You weren't kidding when you said that this place needed a lot of work," she said, as they crossed the threshold, keeping to the impromptu script they'd devised.

"It has its good parts," Finn said, defensively, reaching out toward the light switch on the wall. Then, he frowned as he flicked it on and nothing happened. "I keep meaning to get that fuse fixed."

"It's really dark in here, Finn," Paige said, injecting what she hoped sounded like trepidation in her voice.

"Don't tell me you're afraid of the dark," Finn said, a teasing note to his voice, and Paige had to wonder just how many times he'd done this before.

"Maybe," she said, laughing nervously.

"I'm going to go check out the circuit breaker," Finn said, starting down the hallway.

"No," Paige said, quickly, the nerves in her voice only partly pretend. Despite their plan, she wasn't happy about being left alone with a demon she couldn't even see. "Don't go."

"I'll be right back," Finn said, in a tone that was clearly meant to be reassuring.

Then, he disappeared down the hallway, leaving her alone in the dark foyer. She cast an apprehensive glance back at the closed door, every rational instinct she had screaming at her to just get the hell out while she still could. She pushed aside the rational voice, knowing that it was only going to distract her at a crucial moment.

Being a witch seemed to require a certain level of insanity, anyway.

As she moved slowly into the dark house, she hoped that she was projecting the air of helpless victim that Gammill was looking for. When she caught herself sparking out of nerves, little jolts of electricity jumping between her fingers, she clenched both hands into fists, extinguishing any remnants of her power. She really didn't want Gammill thinking of her as a threat while he could still get away.

There was an open door at the far end of the hallway, just like Finn had said. She moved slowly into the room, hoping to lure Gammill in after her.

The walls of the dark room were lined with shelves, and the shelves were cluttered with dusty, porcelain figurines. Her anxiety completely unfeigned, now, Paige reached for the nearest figurine, picking it up, carefully.

The exquisitely-detailed young woman had a look of complete horror etched permanently on her face, and when Paige ran her fingers gently over the figurine, she thought that she could feel a distant echo of terror and fear. She clutched instinctively at the figurine, setting it gently back on the shelf with shaking hands. Then, she took a closer look at the rest of the figurines – and the identical expressions of fear and horror that was reflected on each one.

Paige rocked back on her heels, knowing that she'd just found all of Gammill's victims. Her anxiety vanished, replaced by a cold fury directed at the demon. She wanted to vanquish him before he could hurt another young woman.

When she heard a noise behind her, she spun around, hands held up defensively in front of her. An old man with a horribly scarred face was standing in the doorway, a thin, metal wand held in his hands.

"You startled me," Paige said, biting her lower lip and widening her eyes in an attempt to appear defenseless. "Finn didn't tell me that he had a roommate."

When Gammill remained silent, moving slowly into the room without taking her eyes off her, Paige backed up slowly until her shoulders hit the shelf behind her. She let out a high-pitched, nervous laugh, letting her eyes dart frantically around the room.

"Finn's going to be back at any second," she babbled, her hands fluttering anxiously in front of her. "He went to check on the fuse box."

"Leaving you here all alone," Gammill finally said, and Paige found herself rocked by the quiet menace she could hear in his voice.

_'No wonder he's trapped so many women,'_ she thought, forcing down the primal fear that threatened to creep up at the sound of his voice. _'He's truly terrifying.'_

"I – I'm not completely alone," she stammered, hoping that she sounded scared. "I'm sure that Finn will be back at any second."

"My dear girl," Gammill said, with a dry, humorless laugh. "He won't be coming back for you. Not when I told him to lure you here."

Almost faster than she could see, the old man whipped the wand up and pointed it at her, a jagged bolt of electricity streaking toward her face. Paige countered with a bolt of lightning of her own, and the clashing attacks veered off to strike the dusty window, shattering the glass into a million pieces.

Then, Paige lunged at Gammill, taking the old man by surprise as she forced him out of the room and back into the hallway. She slammed him against the far wall so hard that his head snapped back and made a dent in the plaster. Gammill let out a quiet groan of pain, but Paige didn't let that deter her.

He may have looked like a helpless old man, but a cunning demon lay beneath the flesh, and she wasn't about to let herself forget it for a second. Not if she wanted to stay alive.

Hearing footsteps pounding down the hallway, Paige made the mistake of glancing over to see Finn running toward her. Gammill used her momentary distraction to his advantage, shoving her away from him, and Paige stumbled back toward the doorway.

Gammill tried to bolt down the hallway, but Finn tackled him, slamming his creator heavily to the floor and pinning him there with his greater weight. He shifted his weight, bringing his knee down onto the man's hand and breaking the grip Gammill had on his wand. Finn snatched the wand up, tossing it back to Paige, who caught it on a burst of wind that carried it to her hands.

Gammill twisted, suddenly, under Finn, throwing the younger man off him. Then, he bolted to his feet with a surprising burst of speed, headed for the front door.

"He can't get outside!" Finn cried.

"Got it under control," Paige said, snapping her fingers.

A wave of fire sprang up across the hallway, blocking Gammill's path and stopping the demon in his tracks. She conjured another wall of fire behind Gammill, hemming him in.

"He's not going anywhere," Paige assured Finn, as the younger man climbed to his feet and moved to her side.

"Yeah, but you can't exactly shrink him through a wall of flames," Finn pointed out.

"I don't think we need to," Paige said, thoughtfully, as she watched Gammill pace behind the curtain of fire like a tiger in a cage.

"What did you have in mind?" Finn asked, curiously, as he toyed with the wand that Paige passed him.

"Give me a second," she said, absently, as she chased the wisps of memory flitting through her mind.

She could almost see the vanquishing spell in her mind, could practically hear Phoebe's strong, confident voice reciting the words. And after a minute, she thought that she had it, shooting Finn a triumphant grin.

"Leo?" she called out, hoping that the Whitelighter could hear her.

A second later, a swirl of bright, white lights formed in front of her, coalescing into her brother-in-law.

"What do you – whoa," he said, when he spotted Gammill.

"Demon," Paige said, shortly, by way of explanation. "Can you go get my sisters? There's a Power of Three spell to vanquish him."

With a quick nod, Leo vanished. He was gone for several minutes, and Paige, Finn, and Gammill passed the time in tense silence, Gammill glaring daggers at both of them through his fiery cage. When Leo returned, he had all three of her sisters in tow.

"What are we doing here?" Phoebe demanded, as soon as they'd fully materialized. "What is this place?"

"That's not important," Paige said, cutting off her older sister's ranting. "We – or, you three, rather – have a demon to vanquish. It should be easy; I think I've got the spell down."

"Let me get this straight," Piper said, raising an eyebrow at her. "It's not bad enough that the demons are coming after us; now you're hunting them down?"

"I didn't intend to come after this one," Paige retorted. "But, I couldn't just let him keep running around after I found out about him."

"Don't tell me that this is your creepy house," Phoebe said, scornfully. "Leo pulled me out of a job interview for this?"

"We're witches, Phoebe," Paige snapped, finally fed up with the other woman's constant attitude toward her. "Vanquishing demons is what we do-"

She cut herself off, abruptly, when she caught a flash of movement over Prue's shoulder. Grabbing her older sister by the arm, she jerked her out of the way as Gammill made an abortive attempt to run through the flames.

"No," she snarled, her hand clenching into a fist.

In response, the fire roared to life, surrounding Gammill as he moved. The demon let out a short, painful scream, and then he fell silent. Paige unclenched her fist, the fire dying as she did, and the only thing left of Gammill was a scorch mark on the hardwood floor.

"Guess you should have tried that, first," Finn commented, into the silence that had fallen.

"I don't believe this," Phoebe said, disgustedly, glaring at Paige in anger.

"Why'd you need us if you could vanquish him the whole time?" Prue asked, tactfully.

"I didn't know I could do that," Paige said, defensively. "The last time we did this, it really did take a Power of Three spell. I didn't even have these powers."

"Whatever," Phoebe snapped, before anyone else could say anything. "Just one way that you're better than the rest of us, right?"

Paige stared at her in disbelief, hurt beyond belief by Phoebe's careless words. Prue and Piper were staring at their younger sister, as well, stunned looks on their faces.

"Can you orb me back to the Manor?" Phoebe asked Leo, curtly. "I might as well go home, since, thanks to someone, my interview is a complete bust."

She stalked off without waiting for an answer, and Paige stared after her in shocked silence before turning to her other sisters with a confused look on her face.

"I didn't-" she started, not even sure of how she intended to finish the sentence.

"We know, sweetie," Piper said, sympathetically, patting her on the arm. "We'll talk to Phoebe. It'll be okay; you'll see."

But, Paige wasn't convinced by her words.


	38. Chapter 38

**Author's Note:** Major thanks to my beta, **cruelangel101**, for helping me with this story. The reconciliation is all due to her.

And, of course, thanks to my readers. You guys are awesome, and I can't believe we hit 350 reviews. Once we hit 500, I've got a special thanks to my reviewers, coming.

**Chapter Thirty-Eight**

Piper, Prue, and Leo went after Phoebe, orbing away as they caught up with the younger woman. Paige was left alone with Finn, who was looking everywhere but at her, a painfully embarrassed look on his face.

"Um," Finn said, still avoiding her gaze.

"We've got some Innocents to save," Paige said, quickly changing the subject as she turned and headed back to the room with all the figurines.

The figurines were still intact, and beside her, Finn scowled when he saw them.

"Gammill never told me much of his work, down here," he said, frustrated, but I was sure that vanquishing him would restore everyone back to life." He hesitated, and then continued, "Maybe it's me. Maybe if I-"

"No," Paige cut him off, knowing where he was going. "Killing you isn't going to do anything to help those women. You're tied to Gammill, not to our Innocents."

"But, we can't just leave them like this," Finn protested.

"I don't intend on it," Paige told him. "Gammill's power comes from his shrinking wand, right?"

"Yeah," Finn confirmed, slowly.

"Well, the last time my sisters and I vanquished Gammill, we didn't do anything about his wand," Paige went on. "But, maybe if we destroy it, then we'll be able to save all these women."

"The last time you vanquished Gammill?" Finn echoed, incredulously, and Paige grinned, ruefully, when she realized what she'd said.

"That's a really long story," she explained. "Do you still have Gammill's wand?"

As Finn put the wand into the kiln, Paige lit the oven, focusing on the fire inside until it was practically white-hot. The wand sparked inside the flames, with a loud popping sound, and Paige let the flames die once the wand had melted.

There was a moment of breathless anticipation, and then the figurines all started to glow. Before Paige or Finn could do anything, the shelves collapsed under the weight of all of the resurrected young women, dumping them into a big, confused pile on the floor.

Paige helped the women to their feet, steering them toward the hallway. Some of them were shooting Finn wary looks as they passed him in the hallway, and Paige saw a flash of pain cross the young man's face.

"I didn't want to hurt any of them," he said, softly, when Paige joined him in the hallway.

"I know," Paige said, reassuringly.

Digging her new cell phone out of her pocket – third one in two weeks – she dialed Darryl and spoke quickly to the inspector. She explained briefly what had happened, and Darryl promised to be out to the house as quickly as he could, to help her deal with Gammill's captives. Then, she went out into the foyer where the young women were gathered, listening to them talk anxiously to each other for a few seconds. Then, she whistled, sharply, getting their attention.

"My name is Paige Matthews," she called out, pitching her voice to be heard by all of them. "I know that a lot of you are confused about what's happened to you, and I'm going to try and make things as clear as I can."

"What's the date?" one of the young women asked, a slight tremor in her voice, as if she was afraid of the answer.

"May twenty-fifth," Paige answered. "Two thousand one," she added, before the next, logical question could be posed.

One of the women in the back of the group burst into tears at her words, her neighbor quietly comforting her, and Paige guessed that she'd been one of the victims who'd been there for years.

"You were being held captive by a man calling himself Gammill," Paige went on, trying to think of how to best phrase things. "From what I've been able to gather, some of you have been here for years."

"Why don't we remember anything?" one of the bolder women asked, a challenging note in her voice.

"You were drugged," Finn spoke up, joining Paige. "The drugs messed with your minds, clouded your memories. You might not ever remember what happened, here."

Some of the women looked angry at that, but others looked relieved. Clearly, their imaginations were working overtime, and they'd decided that they would rather not have their suspicions confirmed.

"The police are on their way," Paige continued. "They'll want to talk to you about what each of you can remember, and then they'll get you reunited with your families. But, until then, if you could just find some place and get comfortable while we wait."

She'd settled in a spot near the door to keep an eye on the women when she was approached by a group of women wearing very old-looking clothing. One of the women looked like she'd just stepped out of Puritanical Salem, and the rest of the small group were dressed similarly.

_'I suppose hearing that they were at a really accurate costume party is too much to hope for," _she thought, just before one of the women started to speak.

"Excuse me," she said, softly, looking worriedly at Paige, "you said that the year is two thousand and one? Not seventeen eighty-five?" she added, hopefully.

"No," Paige said, apologetically. "I'm so sorry," she added, when she couldn't think of anything else to say.

"That demon has held us captive for nearly three hundred years," the woman went on, seeking confirmation, and grim looks passed across the faces of her companions when Paige nodded.

"Then, our families," another woman spoke up, timidly, "our friends, they're all gone?"

Paige was about to answer in the affirmative, but something stopped her. She couldn't just tell these women that their entire lives were over, not if there was even a hope of doing something about it.

"There might be a way," she said, cautiously, not wanting to get their hopes up, "to get all of you back to your right times. You might be able to go home."

"If there is anything that you can do," the first woman told her, "we would be eternally grateful."

"I'll try," Paige promised, and the woman reached out and clasped her hands, gratefully.

"Bless you," she said, warmly, and she and the other women retreated to talk quietly among themselves.

Darryl and Andy, with two other officers in tow, arrived nearly fifteen minutes later, and Paige gratefully turned the young women over to Darryl. Andy, she directed to the time-displaced group of women, and he promised to take them to the Elders. After promising him a full explanation of everything else, later, she went out into the sunshine, with Finn following her.

"Thank you," the young man said, quietly, after they'd stood in silence for several minutes. "I didn't think that I would ever be free of Gammill."

"Are you going to be okay?" Paige asked him. "Do you have a job, a way to support yourself, now that Gammill is gone?"

"Gammill wanted me to be able to move about in the world, while he hid in the house," Finn told her, nodding. "So, I've got an identity, a job at the grocery store-"

"What's wrong?" Paige prompted, when he fell silent.

"I don't know what's out there," Finn admitted. "I spent my life serving Gammill; I don't know what I'm supposed to do, now."

"Come on," Paige said, jerking her head toward her car, where it was still parked on the side of the street.

"Where are we going?" Finn asked, confused, but he followed her, nonetheless.

"To build you a life," Paige told him, as she held open the passenger side door of the car.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Two hours later, she dropped Finn back off at his house, with the promise that she would stop by later in the week to see how the remodeling was going. She'd gotten Finn enrolled in classes at the local community college and had set up a couple interviews with some companies that he'd seemed interested in.

When he'd tried to thank her, Paige had just shrugged it off.

"This is what I do," she'd told him. "And, there's not really anything else that I can do for the other Innocents that Gammill preyed on, so I'm doing what I can for you."

Now, she was headed back to the Manor, to finally drop off her car load of stuff. She'd just parked her car on the side of the street when her phone rang. Picking it up, she smiled to see Henry's new number on the screen.

"Hey, honey," she greeted him. "Are you at work?"

"For a little bit," Henry replied. "What about you? Did you get Finn taken care of?"

"He's all set," Paige told him. "I told him to call if he needed help fixing his house up, but I think he's going to be okay, otherwise."

"Are your sisters still mad at you about the vanquish, this morning?" Henry asked.

"Well, it was really just Phoebe," she corrected him. "But, I am still sitting out here in my car, avoiding running into her, so take that as you will."

"She'll come around," Henry said, and Paige sighed.

"I hope so," she said. "I miss my sister, and bitchy Phoebe just makes me want to smack her."

Henry laughed, saying something in response, but Paige didn't hear him. Instead, she stared out the windshield at a car that pulled up across the street, directly across from the Manor. A woman got out of the car and headed straight for the house.

Paige started in alarm when the woman's jacket hitched up, revealing the outline of a gun at the back of her waistband. Piper and Prue's cars were missing from the driveway, Phoebe was alone in the house, and she still had no powers.

"Honey, I gotta go," Paige said, absently, as she got out of her car. "Something's come up."

She hung up the phone on Henry's good-bye, heading for the house and keeping a careful eye on the stranger.

"Can I help you?" she called out, loudly, as she jogged quickly up the steps to the porch.

The woman startled before she could ring the doorbell, turning around quickly with a hand going to the gun at her waist. Then, she dropped her arm, her tense expression relaxing into a smile when she saw Paige.

"Hey, Matthews," she greeted her, grinning.

"Toni," Paige returned, with a grin of her own. "What are you doing here?"

Lieutenant Antonia Baines worked in Missing Persons with the police department. She excelled in cases involving kids, which meant that she also worked with Social Services, a lot. Paige had worked with her a few times over the last couple of years, and the two of them had become friends.

"Just following up on a case," Toni told her, as she turned around and rang the doorbell.

"Here?" Paige asked, puzzled, but when Phoebe answered the door, everything clicked into place.

She remembered Piper saying something about how she and Prue had filed a Missing Persons' report on Phoebe. None of them had given it any thought once Phoebe was safely back home, but apparently the report hadn't just gone away.

"Can I help you?" Phoebe asked, curiously, when she saw Toni standing on the porch. Then, she frowned when she saw Paige standing there as well. "Paige, hi."

"Hey," Paige returned, neutrally. "I've got the rest of my stuff in my car. Do you mind if I unload it?"

"Sure, go ahead," Phoebe said, waving her in. "Everything else is in the basement."

As Paige headed back to her car, she heard Toni and Phoebe talking in low voices. And both women had moved inside the house by the time Paige came back from the car. It took three trips to unload her car, and when she came up from the basement the last time, she heard Toni and Phoebe talking in the sun room.

Paige paused in the foyer when she heard Phoebe's voice rise, defensively, her hackles rising instinctively at the distressed sound in her sister's voice.

"I told you," Phoebe said, sounding as if she was repeating herself, "I forgot the charger for my cell phone, and the battery died. That's all."

"I just find it hard to believe that you would go an entire week without contacting your sisters even once," Toni said, her own voice deceptively mild.

"I put a note on the counter before I left for New York," Phoebe said, her voice strained. "I thought that Piper and Prue knew where I was; I certainly didn't know that they thought I was in trouble."

"You should have heard the riot act that Prue read her when she came home," Paige interjected, lightly.

Coming into the sun room, she draped an arm across Phoebe's shoulders and shot Toni a sunny grin.

"It turned out that the cat knocked the note off the counter, and it slid under the fridge," Paige continued, as Phoebe stiffened imperceptibly under her arm.

"You're sure?" Toni asked, suspiciously, but Paige wasn't offended.

She knew that Toni was just trying to protect Phoebe, to make sure that she wasn't being coerced, somehow. It was that tenacity that made Toni such a great investigator, and Paige actually admired her for it. It was just that, this time, she was completely off the mark, although it wasn't her fault.

"This was all just a big misunderstanding," Paige explained, apologetically. "Phoebe's fine, Toni."

"I can see that," Toni finally said, relenting. "If you're sure-"

"Toni, come on," Paige said. "Would I lie to you?"

"Through your teeth," Phoebe muttered under her breath, too low for Toni to hear her, as she moved out from under Paige's arm. Paige jabbed her sharply in the ribs with her elbow, still smiling brightly at Toni.

After a couple of minutes, Tony finally left, and Paige shut the door gently behind her. When she turned back around, she caught Phoebe watching her with an unreadable expression on her face.

"Thanks," Phoebe said, breaking the silence. "For lying for me, I mean."

"That's what sisters are for, right?" Paige said, shrugging.

"Sisters, yeah," Phoebe echoed, and Paige thought that she looked sheepish as she spoke. "Um," Phoebe went on, hesitantly, "it's been brought to my attention that I haven't really been very fair to you, lately. Some might even say that I've been a bitch," she muttered, and Paige had no trouble guessing just who'd expressed that opinion.

"Yup," she agreed, and Phoebe shot her an incredulous look, clearly not expecting that reaction.

"Okay, yeah," she said, grudgingly, "I guess I deserved that one."

"Phoebe," Paige told her, seriously, "you are my sister, and I love you, and I even forgive you for the way you've been acting the past couple of days, given everything that's been happening. But, come on, you're practically perfect, and you're a lot to live up to as a sister, so I've got to take what enjoyment I can from seeing you fall on your face, once and a while."

"Okay, that's not fair," Phoebe told her. "You're not allowed to use future knowledge against me."

"Says the woman who can see the future," Paige teased her, and Phoebe laughed, a grin splitting her face. And, just like that, the tension that had existed between them for the past two days disappeared.

"Prue and Piper filled me in on everything as soon as we got home, a couple of hours ago," she told Paige, as they dropped down onto the couch, together. "About how you and your husband came back from the future to save us, how you vanquished Shax, together-"

"How I forgot that I could orb, and got hit by an energy ball?" Paige asked, wryly. "Of all the memories that are coming back, that's one I could have lived without."

"You saved Prue and Piper's lives," Phoebe told her, quietly. "For that alone-"

"It makes us even for everything else that you've done for me," Paige told her, firmly. "Pheebs, you're half the reason I'm the witch I am, today."

Phoebe blushed at the unexpected praise, and Paige grinned at seeing her older sister squirm.

"A witch with really kickass powers, from what I hear," Phoebe muttered, clearly trying to return the favor. "You know, that was actually a big part of my problem."

"What do you mean?" Paige asked, curiously.

"I was angry about losing my powers," Phoebe explained. "I know it wasn't your fault – heck, we still haven't figured out how the spell went wrong – but, I wasn't really happy about my powers being transferred to Cole. And here you were, and you could light things on fire, and shoot lightning from your hands – I was jealous, to say the least."

"The Elders told me that I had these powers in a past life," Paige told her. "Apparently, I earned them back after everything that happened with Shax."

"Anyway," Phoebe continued, clearly determined to go on with something that was making her uncomfortable, "I'm sorry about the way I've been acting. It's been rude, and childish, and so many other things that I can't even begin to express."

"It's okay," Paige told her. A grin spread across her face, as she added, "Besides, this just gives me something to hold over your head in the future."

"Piper was right," Phoebe groaned, in mock dismay. "You really are just like Prue."

"How is the situation with your powers going, anyway?" Paige asked, curiously. "Have you guys figured out how to get your powers out of Cole, yet?"

"Not a clue," Phoebe sighed.

"So, then," Paige asked, "where is Tall, Dark, and Handsome? I would have thought that he'd be sticking to you like glue."

"He's in the Underworld," Phoebe replied. "He's trying to get more information about the demons that attacked us, last night."

"Well, at least he's got your premonitions to help keep him out of trouble," Paige commented, and then she and Phoebe both looked over at the sound of the front door opening.

Prue and Piper walked into the living room, stopping in shock when they saw their sisters sitting there.

"Phoebe and Paige aren't trying to kill each other," Prue commented to Piper. "It's a sign of the apocalypse."

"That's not funny," Phoebe scolded. "We don't joke about that in this family."

"What's up?" Paige asked, curiously, as their older sisters sat down across from them.

"Prue and I have been talking," Piper told her. "About what happened this morning, with the demon vanquish."

"I'm sorry that I dragged you guys into that," Paige said. "But, I didn't know that I could vanquish Gammill, myself."

"No, it's not that," Prue protested, quickly. "Well, not really."

"You've said it, yourself," Piper said, picking up on the thread, "that things would be easier if you had all of your memories back. Things like the vanquish this morning."

"Yeah, but my memories aren't just going to magically return all at once," Paige pointed out, reasonably.

"They will with this," Piper said, excitedly, brandishing a piece of paper. "It's a Power of Three spell that should bring your memories back."

"Wait a minute," Paige protested. "You want to use magic? Doesn't that violate every personal gain rule in the book?"

"Not if we're using your memories to fight demons," Prue told her.

"Oh, that is rationalizing, and you know it," Paige protested, but there was no heat behind her words, especially when she remembered having a very similar argument with Henry earlier that morning.

"Come on," Piper protested. "You can't tell me that you don't want your memories back."

"Well," Paige said, hesitantly, and Piper seized the opportunity she saw.

"You'll be able to remember everything," she said, coaxingly. "Like all of your time with Henry?"

Paige shot Piper a glare, irritated that the other woman had found her weakness so easily. Then, reluctantly, she nodded.

"Fine," she acquiesced. "Just don't turn me into a toad, or anything."

Piper grinned at her as Phoebe joined her and Prue, looking at the spell over their shoulders. Then, they started chanting in unison.

_"Witch gone through time,_

_Secrets hidden in the mind._

_Release what has been bound,_

_Let lost memories be found."_

When they finished the spell, all three of them looked hopefully at Paige.

"Well?" Prue prompted. "Do you feel any different?"

"Not really," Paige admitted. "I don't think the spell worked. I don't remember anything more than I did this morning."

"I don't get it," Piper said, sounding frustrated. "It was a good spell."

"Maybe it just needs some tweaking," Phoebe suggested.

"Well, while you guys are doing that," Paige said, "I'm going to go unload my car."

Phoebe frowned at her words, and Paige saw something like concern on her older sister's face.

"Paige, you already unloaded your car," she reminded her. "When Lieutenant Baines was here?"

"Oh, right," Paige said, sheepishly, as Phoebe's words triggered the memory. "I guess I just forgot."

But, as she turned away from her sisters, she had the nagging feeling that she was forgetting more than just that.


	39. Chapter 39

**Author's Note:** Major thanks to my beta, **cruelangel101**, for helping me with this story. And, of course, thanks to my readers. You guys are awesome, and I love hearing what you guys think.

**Chapter Thirty-Nine**

Piper looked up as Paige came clattering down the stairs, tugging her jacket on.

"Where are you going in such a hurry?" she asked, curiously.

"I have to go pick up Tyler from school," came the hurried reply. "I completely forgot, and now I'm late – I am such a horrible mother."

"You are not," Piper protested, automatically. "Tyler will understand if you're a little bit late."

Paige just mumbled something indistinct as she bolted for the front door, her purse dangling from her hand.

"Paige!" Piper called out, stopping her youngest sister in her tracks. When Paige looked back at her in confusion, she added, "You're not going out without shoes, are you?"

"Oh, right," Paige said, looking down at her bare feet. "I guess that would help."

"You know," Piper told her, "you've been kind of scatterbrained ever since we cast that spell."

"I'm fine," Paige insisted. "Piper, you're worrying too much."

"I just don't want to have to explain to Prue and Phoebe that we broke you with our memory spell," Piper said.

"I'm fine," Paige repeated. Then, a confused look flashed across her face as she looked around the foyer. "Wait a minute, where am I?"

Piper stared at her in shock, ready to yell for Leo, and then Paige grinned at her, her eyes crinkling up.

"I'm joking," she said, teasingly. "Relax, would you?"

"That's not funny," Piper grumbled at her.

"Oh, come on, it was a little funny," Paige said, and Piper finally cracked a smile.

"Maybe," she admitted.

"Now, I have to go," Paige said, as she pulled on a pair of shoes. "Because, now I really am late."

She darted out the front door, leaving Piper standing alone in the foyer. After a minute, she headed toward the kitchen, wanting to do something to keep her hands busy. She still had a couple hours before she headed into the club to set up for the night.

She didn't really have anything in mind as she started working, she was just throwing random ingredients into a saucepan. Consequently, her mind started wandering, and like had happened too often, lately, her thoughts started down the baby path.

She and Leo hadn't talked about it very seriously, but the subject had come up. And every time it did, Piper couldn't help but remember that little girl she'd seen when they'd gone to the future. She'd taken it for granted that her daughter was meant to be born, especially after she and Leo had finally been allowed to get married, but now she wasn't so sure.

_'If only there was a way to know for sure,'_ she thought, wistfully.

Then, all of a sudden, she wasn't standing in the kitchen, any more…

_She was curled up on the couch beside Phoebe, grinning at Piper who was standing in front of them. _

_"Whatcha got there?" she asked, teasingly. _

_"Maternity clothes," Piper told them, "as if you didn't know, already."_

_"You caved," she said, with a smirk. _

_"Yeah, the time has come," Piper admitted, with a sigh. "But," she continued, a mischievous glint in her eye, "I've come to the conclusion that if you've got it, then you must flaunt it."_

_She flipped up the front of the shirt she was wearing, showing off a very pregnant abdomen._

_"That's my niece in that belly," Phoebe said, proudly, and she leaned over and elbowed her, gently. _

_"She's my niece, too," she said, pointedly. _

_"Hi, niece!" Phoebe called out, in a babyish voice. "It's your favorite aunt, Phoebe!" _

Piper gasped as the memory let her go, leaning heavily on the counter for support. She could still feel Paige's emotions running through her, her happiness and contentment at that moment. And she was absolutely floored by the sight of herself, pregnant.

Her daughter really was meant to be, after all.

Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes and she wiped them away, smiling happily as she absorbed all she could from the memory. Then, her peace was shattered by her sisters coming into the kitchen, both of them talking very loudly.

"Hey, hey!" Piper said, cutting through their voices. "What the heck is going on here?"

"Has anything weird happened to you in the last few minutes?" Prue demanded, abruptly. "Have you seen anything strange, or out of the ordinary-"

"Does one of Paige's memories count?" Piper asked, with a sigh, and her sisters exchanged wary glances.

"So, it's happening to all of us, then," Phoebe told her. "Prue and I both started having flashes of Paige's memories a couple of minutes ago."

"What was yours about?" Prue asked, curiously.

"My future daughter," Piper told them, unable to hide her happy smile.

"Aww," Phoebe cooed at her, and Piper swatted at her hands when her younger sister reached for her stomach.

"No baby talk from you," she scolded her. "It gets old, and, besides, I'm not even pregnant, yet."

"And, we have some bigger things to worry about, right now," Prue pointed out. "Like what we did to screw up that spell so badly."

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_As they descended the stairs, they could hear an indistinct rumble of voices that eventually formed into words. They reached the first landing in time to see Piper and a woman with short, dark hair pushing a man in a white lab coat into the sun room. _

_"Prue," she whispered, feeling emotion well up in her chest, and Henry squeezed her shoulder, supportively. _

_"Any sign of Shax?" he hissed, looking around. _

_"Not yet," she answered, and then a yell split the air. _

_Swearing under her breath, she sprinted down the rest of the stairs, with Henry right on her heels. They burst into the sun room just as the demon had cornered her sisters and their Innocent against a wall. _

_"Shax!" she yelled, praying that she distracted the demon from her sisters. _

_The demon turned at the sound of his name, and Piper took the opportunity to push the Innocent through the French doors and out onto the patio. At the same time, she shoved Henry to the side, diving to the floor to avoid the energy ball the demon had launched at them. She landed on top of him, but scrambled to her feet and bolted across the open space to join her sisters. _

_She'd nearly reached them when Shax threw another energy ball. She could see it coming in slow motion, but she still wasn't fast enough to stop it. There was a blinding explosion of pain, and then she was flying backwards through the air. _

_She barely felt it when she crashed through the French doors leading out to the patio, but the sound of breaking glass was unmistakable. Underneath it, she could hear screaming, and then Henry's face swam into view above her. She'd never seen anything more wonderful. _

_"Vanquishing spell," she whispered, and she felt Henry pulling the piece of paper out of her clenched fists. _

_Then, he disappeared to get her sisters, and she could feel herself start to slip away without his anchoring presence. It was getting colder, and she was numb, and she couldn't feel Piper and Prue holding her hands, even though they were right beside her. _

_She could see Henry back above her, again, his lips moving soundlessly as he looked down at her. There were tears shining in his eyes, and she wanted to reach up and brush them away from his cheeks, wanted to tell him not to worry, that everything was going to be all right. But, she couldn't seem to find the strength. _

_"Let go," she could hear a voice whispering in her ear. "Your fight is done; rest now."_

_She struggled instinctively against the impulse, but the siren song of the mysterious voice was too much to resist. She was tired, and she hurt, and she just wanted to close her eyes for a second – _

_When she looked down, she saw her body sprawled out on the floor, with Henry curled around her, sobbing wildly. She reached out to him, swearing angrily when her hand passed straight through his shoulder. _

_Piper and Prue were picking themselves up off the floor, concerned looks on their faces as they stared down at Henry. They couldn't seem to hear her, no matter how much she shouted at them, and finally she gave up, growling in frustration. _

_"I hate this part," she snapped, flatly, turning to glare at the figure that she knew would be standing behind her. _

_Death gave her a humorless smile, his hand extended towards her. _

_"Welcome to your afterlife."_

Henry jerked upright in his chair, his heart pounding wildly in his chest. A quick look around confirmed that he'd fallen asleep at his desk, his head pillowed in his arms and a mess of papers covering the surface of the desk.

"You know, Mitchell," a voice said, startling him out of his tired daze, "you could always go home and get some actual sleep."

"I'm fine," Henry protested, automatically, looking over at Ryan, who'd spoken, but his friend just snorted in disbelief.

"You were out like a light for twenty minutes," Ryan told him. "At one point, I actually had to check to make sure you were still breathing."

"Twenty minutes?" Henry echoed, incredulously. "Oh, god, I am so fired."

"Nah, you're okay," Ryan reassured him. "I talked to the Captain, told him about the fire, last night. He understands."

Henry doubted that, but his best friend had never led him wrong, so far, so he was willing to let the matter drop.

"So, what's up with you?" Ryan went on, curiously. "You look like hell, man."

"Bad dream," Henry said, shortly, the images of Paige's death still fresh in his mind.

"So, how's married life treating you?" Ryan asked, after a short, awkward silence had fallen between the two of them. "You must still be madly in love with this woman, since every time her name comes up, you start grinning like an idiot."

"I do not," Henry protested, weakly. "But, you're right about one thing. I am crazy about her. And I don't think that'll ever change."

"Almost makes me want to give up on bachelorhood, myself," Ryan said, "hearing you gush like that."

"Oh, don't worry," Henry said, thinking about Ryan's wife, who he was going to meet in three years, "you'll find someone who's perfect for you."

He went back to his work, but he couldn't concentrate on the papers in front of him. He just kept seeing Paige dying, over and over, an image that had haunted him ever since they'd come back from the future. But, something seemed wrong about what he'd seen.

It took him another couple of minutes before he realized what it was. The images had looked wrong because it hadn't been his memories he'd been seeing. It had been Paige's.

When his cell phone rang, startling him out of his thoughts, he glanced at the display before answering.

"Paige, something's gone wrong," he said, before she had the chance to say anything.

"This isn't Paige," Prue said, and he frowned at the sound of his sister-in-law's voice.

"What are you doing on Paige's phone?" he asked.

"She left it here when she went to pick Tyler up from school," Prue told him. "And using her phone was the fastest way to call you."

"Why are you calling me?" Henry asked, starting to get suspicious.

"Has anything strange been happening to you over the last half hour or so?" Prue asked, evasively.

"You mean like getting a flash of Paige's memories as she was killed by Shax?" Henry hissed, lowering his voice so that no one else in the room could hear him.

"Exactly like that," Prue muttered, dread in her voice. "So, I guess it's affected you, too."

"What did you do?" Henry demanded, even though he already knew the answer.

"We cast a spell, and it went really, really wrong," Prue told him. "Paige was supposed to get her memories back; instead, it looks like we've got them."

"I'm coming back to the Manor," Henry snapped, and then he hung up the phone before Prue had time to answer.


	40. Chapter 40

**Author's Note: **Thanks so much to my awesome beta, **cruelangel101**. And, as always, a big thank you to my readers. You guys are awesome, and I love hearing what you think.

**Chapter Forty**

Paige blinked in confusion as she looked around. She didn't even remember getting in her car, and now, all of a sudden, she was parked in front of the junior high school that was a couple of blocks from her work.

_'What the heck am I doing here?'_ she thought, baffled. _'Was I supposed to meet a client, or something?'_

She grabbed her purse off the seat beside her, intending to rummage through the mess until she could find her day planner – and hopefully some explanation of what she was supposed to be doing. But, she stopped short when she got a good look at the car she was sitting in.

"This is not my car," she said, slowly, as she looked around at the SUV she was sitting in. "Where is my car?"

She jumped in surprise when the passenger door opened beside her, and a young boy climbed into the car. He looked vaguely familiar, but she couldn't place him.

"Hey, Mom," the boy said, happily, oblivious to her confusion. "You'll never guess what happened at school, today."

_'Mom?'_ she mouthed, silently, as she stared at the boy in shock.

Then, she got another surprise when she glanced down to see a wedding ring on her left hand.

_'When did I get married?'_ she thought, frantically. _'And a kid-'_

Beside her, the boy had fallen silent, looking at her with an uneasy expression on his face.

"What's wrong?" he asked, hesitantly. "If this is because I called you Mom, I-"

"No!" Paige said, hastily, still not sure what was going on, but wanting to erase the pain she could see on the boy's face. "No, trust me, it is not that."

"So, you're okay with me calling you Mom?" the boy asked, a hopeful look on his face, and when she nodded, he grinned and threw himself at her in a hug.

_'Tyler,'_ she realized, suddenly, as she wrapped her arms around him, and she tightened her grip in an attempt to chase away the fear that had come with not knowing her own son.

"Is something wrong?" Tyler asked, as he pulled away to settle back in his own seat. "Mom, you don't look so good."

"I'm a little confused, right now," Paige admitted, quietly, as the memories came rushing back to her. "Ty, do you remember what Henry told you about us coming back from the future?"

"Yeah," Tyler said, slowly. "What about it?"

"My memories of that time are a little hazy," Paige told him. "So, my sisters cast a spell to bring my memories back. Only, I think something went wrong."

"What does that mean?" Tyler asked, a note of apprehension in his voice.

"I'm not sure," Paige told him. "But, I don't want you to worry, and I need you to do something for me."

"Anything," Tyler said, automatically, his eyes intent on hers.

"I'm going to drive us back to the Manor," Paige said. "And if I start forgetting things, I need you to keep me on track, okay?"

"Got it," Tyler promised her. Then, he looked at her, curiously. "Hey, if you forget who you are, completely, does that mean I get to drive your car?"

"Not a chance," Paige told him, reaching over to ruffle his hair.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Phoebe groaned as she slammed the Book of Shadows shut, glaring down at the embossed cover. Nearly half an hour of searching, and she still hadn't figured how they could have screwed up the memory spell so badly. She'd gone over the spell nearly a dozen times, compared it to every other memory spell in the Book, but she still didn't know how a spell designed to return Paige's memories had instead transferred them to her and her sisters.

At first, they'd thought that just the three of them, but then Henry had reported seeing Paige's memories, as well. But, also confusingly, no one else had seen anything. Just the four of them, and Leo had orbed Up There to talk to the Elders, leaving Phoebe to her research.

_'Which has gone absolutely nowhere,'_ she thought, angrily, as she stalked across the attic to flop down on the couch in the corner. _'There is no logical explanation for why that spell failed.'_

She groaned, again, throwing her arm across her eyes to block out the light. Her head was killing her eyes hurt from trying to decipher the cramped, ancient handwriting in some of the entries of the Book, and she was beginning to regret leaving her glasses downstairs in her room.

"How goes the research?" Prue asked, startling her, and Phoebe peeked at her from under her arm.

"How about you stare at the Book, hopelessly, for a while?" she grumbled. "My eyes hurt."

"Sure," Prue agreed, flipping through the pages of the Book. "If you want to trade me helping Piper in the kitchen. She's gone manic in her potion making."

"I'll see if I can rein her in," Phoebe said, with a grin, as she stood up and headed for the door.

She'd gotten halfway down the stairs before the memory flash hit.

_She walked into the attic to see Phoebe curled up on the couch, a framed picture in her hands. Her older sister looked up when she entered, and she was shocked to see tears coursing down her cheeks. _

_"Phoebe, what's wrong?" she asked, hesitantly. _

_Phoebe just shook her head, her face crumpling as she looked back down at the picture. She hesitated for a moment, and then crossed the room to sit beside Phoebe, looking over at her, nervously. She bit her lip as she tried to think of what to say, and then she glanced over at the picture, a framed photo of Prue, Piper, and Phoebe, and realization struck. _

_"Do you want to talk about her?" she asked, quietly, remembering how talking about her parents had helped, at times, after they'd died. _

_Phoebe sniffed, her fingers running lightly over the glass. Then, she reached up and wiped the tears away from her eyes. _

_"What if I could have stopped it?" she whispered, and that was the last thing she'd expected Phoebe to say. _

_"What are you talking about?" she asked, confused. _

_"What if I could have saved Prue?" Phoebe asked, plaintively, a pleading look in her eyes as she looked over at her. "If I hadn't gone to the Underworld to save Cole, if I'd stayed here with Prue and Piper, we could have vanquished Shax, together. Prue never would have died."_

_"Pheebs," she said, hesitantly, really unsure of what to say. _

_"This is all my fault," Phoebe said, despair plain in her voice. "Prue died because of me."_

_"No!" she snapped, surprising her older sister into looking over at her in shock. "Don't you say that. I don't ever want to hear you say that, again."_

_"But, what if it's true?" Phoebe asked, a helpless note creeping into her voice. "What if I-"_

_"No," she repeated, emphatically, tears coming into her own eyes. "Phoebe, we don't know what would have happened if you'd stayed up here. For all we know, I could have lost all three of my sisters that day."_

_When Phoebe still looked doubtful, she leaned back and gave her a serious look. _

_"Because of you, time was reset so that magic had never been exposed," she said, firmly. "Because of you, Piper is alive, today. Prue's death is not your fault," she continued, looking Phoebe straight in the eye. _

_"I just-" Phoebe choked out, "I just miss her so much."_

_Wordlessly, she wrapped her arms around Phoebe, holding onto her sister as she burst into tears. As Phoebe collapsed against her, sobbing helplessly, she crooned quietly under her breath._

Phoebe gasped in shock as the memory ended, staggering down a couple of steps to the landing and leaning heavily against the wall.

Her face felt wet, and she lifted a shaking hand to wipe the tears away from her cheeks. She slid down the wall and let her head drop into her hands, her shoulders shaking as she tried to process the emotions she'd been assaulted with. That was where Piper found her a few minutes later.

Phoebe looked up as Piper sat down beside her, a concerned look on her face.

"I wondered where you were," Piper commented, idly. "Prue said that she was relieving you from Book duty."

"She did," Phoebe replied, sniffing back tears as she tried to smile at Piper.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Piper asked, concerned. "Are you crying?"

"Another memory," Phoebe explained, as she wiped the tears away from her eyes.

"A bad one?" Piper asked, knowingly, and Phoebe wondered how many flashes she'd been subjected to over the last half hour.

"It was some time after Prue died," Phoebe told her. "I was kind of a mess."

"Are you okay?" Piper asked, concerned, and Phoebe nodded.

"I'm sorry that I wasn't here for you guys," she whispered, quietly. "I should have – I shouldn't have been in the Underworld; not when you and Prue needed me."

"Everything turned out okay," Piper reminded her.

"This time," Phoebe corrected her, softly. "But, the first time around, I wasn't here, and Prue died."

"And then we met Paige," Piper said, "and five years later, she came back and saved all of us. Everything happens for a reason, Pheebs; we've seen that, before. And I think that all of this happened for a reason, too."

From downstairs, they heard the sound of a door slamming, and familiar voices floated up the stairs.

"Looks like Paige and Tyler are home," Piper commented.

Standing, she pulled Phoebe to her feet.

"Come on," she said, as she threw an arm around Phoebe's shoulders, "let's go see how our wacky magic affected her, too."


	41. Chapter 41

**Author's Note:** Thanks so much to my awesome beta, **cruelangel101**. And, of course, to my amazing readers. You guys rock.

**Chapter Forty-One**

As they descended the stairs, Piper could hear Paige and Tyler talking. The boy sounded worried, although Piper couldn't make out what he was saying. But, she could hear Paige's reply clearly enough.

"Sweetie, I'm fine," Paige said.

"I'm just worried about you," Tyler replied.

"Well, don't," Paige told him. "That's my job."

"Okay," Tyler finally said. "I've got some homework to do."

Piper and Phoebe passed the boy as he started up the stairs, Paige looking after him with a bright smile on her face. But, as soon as he was out of sight, she sighed quietly and leaned against the front door, her eyes closed as she rubbed at her temples.

"Paige?" Piper ventured. "You okay?"

Paige's eyes flew open and she looked at them, and for a second, Piper could see confusion written on her face. Then, she gave them a weary smile.

"Hi," she said, quietly. "I'm losing my mind."

"What do you mean?" Phoebe asked, cautiously, as she and Piper traded wary looks. "Paige, what's going on?"

"I know that you're my sisters," Paige said, slowly, looking at both of them, "but, I can't remember your names. I know Prue, but you're not her-"

"Prue's upstairs," Piper said, quickly, as Paige cut herself off, abruptly. "I'm Piper, and this is Phoebe." Shooting Phoebe another look, she added, "I think we just found another backfire to that spell."

Paige leaned back against the door, letting out a ragged, shaky breath. She was fiddling, anxiously, with her wedding ring, twisting it around on her finger.

"Where's Henry?" she asked, quietly, a plaintive not in her voice. "I – I can't-"

"He's on his way home," Piper told her, reassuringly. "He got caught up with one of his parolees, and he's running late. But, he's going to be here. I promise," she said, emphatically, at the distressed look on her sister's face.

"Okay," Paige whispered, her shoulders slumping. "I think I'm going to go lay down for a while," she went on, after a moment.

"You can crash in my room," Piper told her, sympathetically. "Up the stairs, second door on the right."

Paige nodded, wordlessly, moving past them toward the stairs. When she was gone, Piper exchanged a worried look with Phoebe.

"We broke our sister," she said, flatly.

"I'm going to see how Prue's doing with the Book," Phoebe said, abruptly, spinning on her heel and heading for the stairs.

For her part, Piper headed back to the kitchen, determined to find a potion that would work to restore Paige's memories, if Prue and Phoebe couldn't find some kind of spell.

_'There has to be a way to fix this,'_ Piper thought, resolutely, as she thought about the misery on her youngest sister's face. _'There just has to be.'_

The mess from her earlier attempts to make a memory-restoring potion were scattered all over the kitchen, and she winced to see the disaster that was her normally spotless kitchen. She started cleaning up the kitchen before she started working, again, the familiar activity soothing her frazzled nerves.

When Leo orbed into the kitchen a few minutes later, she smiled, gratefully, to see him, giving her husband a hard hug.

"What was that for?" Leo asked, confused, returning the embrace.

"Just glad to have you home," Piper told him. "Did the Elders have any information?"

"They're working on it," he replied, but there was a tone in his voice that made Piper look at him, strangely.

"All right, you're being evasive," she accused him. "What aren't you telling me?"

"Well," Leo hedged, and Piper just crossed her arms, glaring at him.

She waited, less-than-patiently, and Leo finally sighed, giving in.

"Most of the Elders were sequestered in some kind of confidential meeting," he told her. "I was only able to talk to a couple of the lower-ranking Elders-"

"The Elders have ranks?" Piper interrupted him, curiously.

"More like a hierarchy," Leo replied. "And all of the higher Elders were completely unavailable. I couldn't even get close to talk to them."

"What about the ones you could talk to?" Piper asked. "Did they have anything to say about the spell?"

"Just that this kind of magical mess is not their concern," Leo told her, "and that it's something that we need to solve, ourselves."

"Well, that's less than helpful," Piper snapped, and Leo sighed.

"Tell me about it," he told her. "But, we'll just have to do what we can."

"Great," Piper sighed. "Meanwhile, we're flying blind, and Paige is losing her memories. I'm not really seeing an upside, here."

"Here's one for you," Leo told her, wrapping his arms around her. "We're all here, we're safe, and for once, there are no demons."

"I guess there's that," Piper admitted, as she leaned against his chest. "Let's just hope that our luck keeps on holding."

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

It was later than Henry liked when he finally was able to leave the station. One of his parolees, Daniel Rawlins, had been late for his weekly check-in, and when he'd finally shown up, he'd been nervous and on edge the entire time. Henry was sure that the kid was hiding something from him, but he just couldn't figure out what it was.

Daniel was one of his tougher cases. The seventeen-year-old had a record a mile long, with charges ranging from petty larceny to breaking and entering. He came from a broken home and he ran around with a bad crowd.

Henry had worked with the kid for a couple of years, and he already knew how it was going to end, if he didn't do things differently. The first time around, Daniel had died during a convenience store hold-up, when he'd been shot by one of the young men he'd gone in with. This time, Henry was determined that things were going to turn out differently. He wasn't going to watch Daniel go down that path, again.

But, that was still several weeks away, and not something that he could take care of, currently. Right now, he needed to get back to the Manor and find out what was going on with the memory flashes. He'd been reliving bits and pieces of Paige's memories all day, and it was getting to be unsettling.

He'd been driving for about fifteen minutes when he caught a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye. He glanced over, automatically, jerking the wheel in surprise when he realized that the previously-empty passenger seat was now occupied. He swore under his breath as he moved the car back into the right lane, pulling over to park on the side of the street.

When the car was safely parked on the side of the street, he turned to give his unexpected passenger a piece of his mind. Then, he blinked in surprise when he found himself looking over at Cole.

"New rule," he declared, after a few seconds of silence. "No orbing, no shimmering, no astral projecting into a moving vehicle. Got it?"

"I had a premonition," Cole told him, instead of replying. "Don't go down Fifteenth Street."

"Why not?" Henry asked, even as he went through the intersection, rather than turning onto Fifteenth, like he'd planned.

"Because I don't think that Paige and Tyler would like it if you got shot and died," Cole said, bluntly.

Henry shot the other man an incredulous look. "You saw me die?" he asked, numbly.

"I saw you get shot," Cole corrected, grudgingly. "You were at some store-"

"Oh, that," Henry said, and Cole gave him a suspicious look at his seemingly flippant tone.

"Oh, that?" he echoed. "Did you become bulletproof and forget to inform the rest of us?"

"It's May," Henry told him. "Last time, I didn't get shot until the first week of July. I know when, I know where, and I most definitely know how to avoid it."

"If there's one thing I've learned about Phoebe's power of premonition," Cole argued, "it's that it's never wrong."

"I'm not saying that you're wrong," Henry said, "just that you're early. But, thank you for the warning."

Cole looked like he was about to start arguing, again, but whatever he was about to say was cut off by the roar of an engine as a car sped past them, practically flying down the street. Henry swore softly under his breath as he swerved to avoid getting hit.

"That's Daniel's car," he said, stunned, as he recognized the car that went zooming past them.

"Who's Daniel?" Cole asked, catching himself on the dashboard as Henry chased after the young man's car.

"He's one of my parolees," Henry explained, shortly. "He's been getting into a lot of trouble, lately. A speeding ticket is really the last thing he needs, right now."

He kept following the other car, hoping that Daniel would see him in his rearview mirror and slow down. But, the kid seemed in a real hurry to get somewhere, driving like the devil was on his tail. Henry started to get a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach, a feeling that only intensified when Daniel pulled into the parking lot of a very familiar convenience store.

"Crap," he muttered, under his breath. When Cole shot him a look, he added, "I think your premonition might be coming true faster than I thought."

Parking his car down the street, Henry watched as Daniel got out of his own car and headed for the store, glancing around him, furtively. He disappeared inside the store, and Henry stared after him, uneasily.

Then, after a minute, he started to get out of the car. Cole stopped him with a hand on his arm, keeping him from opening the door, a serious look on his face.

"You can't possibly be thinking of going in there," he said, bluntly.

"That's one of my charges in there," Henry replied. "I have a duty to that kid. I already watched him die, once; I'll be damned if I do it, again."

He pulled his arm out of Cole's grasp, getting out of his car. Then, he watched in surprise as the other man followed him out onto the sidewalk.

"What are you doing?" Henry asked, and Cole shrugged.

"Backing you up," came the reply. "Far be it for me to run from a fight. And I'm sure as hell not about to go back and explain to your lightning-throwing wife that I let you get shot."

"Fine," Henry said, giving in. "Just, remember that there are humans in there. No energy balls, no shimmering, and keep Balthazar on a tight leash," he added, remembering what he'd been told about Cole's demonic half.

"I'll just stick to the background," Cole told him. "Just a silent observer."

"Somehow, that doesn't reassure me." Henry said as he walked toward the store.

As they entered the store, Henry automatically took stock of everything around them. The store was mostly empty, with a middle-aged man behind the register and a pair of women chatting as they browsed one of the aisles. And he spotted Daniel at the back of the store, huddled with a couple of other young men.

Daniel's companions were both wearing dark sweatshirts with the hoods pulled up over their faces and their hands stuffed in the pockets. They had Daniel backed up against one of the freezer cases, and the young man had a scowl fixed firmly on his face. He shook his head, suddenly, vehemently disagreeing with whatever one of the other boys had said to him, and the other boy reached out and shoved him backward, pinning him to the freezer.

His mind made up, Henry stalked to the back of the store, dropping a hand onto the kid's shoulder, making him jump in surprise. The young man spun around, a furious look on his face, and he unthinkingly shoved Henry back a step.

"Back off, man," he growled, while his companion kept Daniel from escaping. "This is none of your business."

"Actually," Henry said, coolly, as he showed the kid his badge, "I think that this is exactly my business."

The first kid glared down at his badge for several seconds, and then he whirled on Daniel, furiously.

"You called the cops?" he hissed, and Henry wondered if it was bravery or stupidity that had him ignoring the fact that said cop was two inches away from him.

"Blame me," Cole spoke up, with a humorless smirk on his face. "I had a craving for Nutter Butters."

He loomed, menacingly, over the teenagers as they stared at him in disbelief, the coldness in his eyes not matching the smirk on his face. The boys looked for a second like they were about to do something stupid, but then they both relented, grumbling under their breath as they stormed out of the store.

Daniel sagged against the freezer as soon as they were gone, a distinctly relieved look on his face. His expression clouded over as soon as he noticed Henry looking at him, though, and Henry waited patiently to see what his reaction was going to be.

"Thanks, man," Daniel said, surprising him. "I was just minding my own business when those guys cornered me."

"What were you doing in here?" Henry asked, nonchalantly, and to his surprise, Daniel fidgeted, nervously, staring at the ground.

He mumbled something indistinct, and Henry waited, patiently, for him to repeat himself. Daniel muttered a second time, this time barely louder than the first.

"You seemed to be a real hurry to get here," Henry said, changing the subject. "Those two didn't call you, have something planned, did they?"

"I told you, I wasn't doing any of that, anymore," Daniel muttered, belligerently.

"Then, why were you here?" Henry countered, and Daniel went back to staring at the ground.

"It's my little brother's birthday," he finally admitted, quietly. "I can't afford a real cake, or anything like that, but Davey's turning thirteen, and I can't get him nothing."

David, Daniel's younger brother, had also been one of Henry's charges, in the future. After the death of his brother, the kid had started down a rocky path, and by the time Henry had gotten him as a parolee, he'd been reckless, angry, and going by the nickname, Speed, so called for his skill as a getaway driver.

_'As if I needed another reason to keep anything from happening to Daniel,'_ Henry thought, wryly, watching the young man as he fidgeted under his direct gaze.

When he reached back to his pocket, Daniel's eyes narrowed in suspicion, his shoulders instinctively tensing. But then, Daniel stared at him in shock when he just pulled his wallet out, handing him some money.

"Get Davey his cake," Henry told the surprised teen. "Give him a night to go nuts on a sugar high."

"Thanks, man," Daniel said, gratefully. "You're as cool as everyone says."

"Hey," Henry stopped him, before he could leave. "No more speeding, huh?"

Daniel just shot him a cheeky grin before disappearing out the door. Henry sighed as he watched the young man leave. He didn't know if he'd managed to save his charge from his grisly future, but he knew that he was going to have his hands full with the kid.

"Well," Cole spoke up from behind him, startling him. "That was easily handled."

"I told you that premonition was wrong," Henry replied, as they headed back to his car.

"We'll see," Cole muttered, ominously.

The rest of the trip back to the Manor was incident-free, and Henry wasn't the only one who breathed a sigh of relief at their safe arrival. Going inside, he checked with Piper and Phoebe, to see how Paige was doing. He checked in, briefly, with Tyler, helping his son with a question that he had with his homework, and then he went to check on his wife.

Henry expected to find Paige still asleep in Piper's room. Instead, she was sitting on the bed, curled up against the headboard with her knees tucked against her chest and her arms wrapped tightly around herself in a protective gesture. She was completely motionless, staring into the empty fireplace. When he sat down beside her, she looked at him, tears shining in her eyes.

"Tyler called me Mom, and I didn't even recognize him," she said, despair in her voice. "I'm losing my memories faster than ever, now."

"We're going to fix this," Henry said, automatically, fighting down the helpless feeling that rose up at her words.

"How?" Paige cried, her voice cracking with the strain. "I'm slipping away, Henry. And I can't stop it."

Her voice broke on a sob, and she dropped her head down onto her knees. Her shoulders shook as she cried, and Henry wrapped his arms around her, tightly, just holding on.

"It's going to be okay," he murmured, even though he had no idea how. "I promise, we're going to fix this. Somehow."


	42. Chapter 42

**Author's Note: **Huge thanks to my awesome beta, **cruelangel101**. And, of course, thanks to my amazing readers. You guys are fantastic.

**Chapter Forty-Two**

_Everything hurt. She was in so much pain that she felt like screaming, only she couldn't force any sound out of her raw, abused throat. _

_She was lying on the floor, and she was cold, and she couldn't figure out why she wasn't in her bed, next to her husband. Or, why she couldn't feel her legs. _

_She tried to get up, but she could barely move, and it took a minute to realize that she was pinned to the ground. Her right arm was twisted awkwardly underneath her, and she couldn't free it, but she could move her left hand, somewhat. She pushed, gingerly, at the debris covering her lower body, her hazy memories clearing as she looked around at the rubble that surrounded her. _

_They'd summoned the Hollow, and then they'd confronted Billie and Christy, and then-_

_And then the house had exploded. _

_She let out an involuntary moan when she pushed the last piece of debris off of her legs, slowly pushing herself to her feet. A stabbing pain shot through her abdomen as she moved, and she fell to her knees, catching herself with her good hand on the rough ground. Her other hand curled instinctively around her stomach, tears springing to her eyes when she realized what had happened. She wanted to curl up and weep, but grief was a luxury she couldn't afford. _

_"Don't think about it," she ordered herself, roughly, her voice loud in the silent night. "Just – don't. There has to be a way to fix this-"_

_She cut herself off when she realized that she was starting to ramble, holding back the hysterical outburst she could feel threatening to emerge. Pushing herself back to her feet, she stumbled away from the spot where she'd been lying. She swayed as she walked, dizziness swamping her, and when she lifted a shaky hand gingerly to her pounding head, her fingers came away sticky with blood. _

_She could feel nausea rising at the sight, but she forced it down. She didn't have time to get sick. She had to find Piper and Phoebe; that was the only thing she could afford to think about, right now. Anything else would just make her fall apart. _

_She'd made it only a few feet when she stumbled over something. She went down, hard, and something in her wrist snapped when she tried to catch herself. She curled her injured arm to her chest, whimpering in pain, and she twisted around to see what she'd tripped over. _

_A hand poked out of the rubble, and her heart immediately leapt to her throat. She started digging at the debris, heedless of the pain that shot up her injured arm, orbing away the pieces that were too heavy to move. _

_When she uncovered Piper's body, she could feel a scream choking her. Her older sister's face was covered in blood, her eyes open and staring sightlessly, and she let out a ragged sob. She pulled Piper to her chest, wrapping her arms around her as she tried to force healing energy into her sister. But, nothing happened, Piper's injuries refusing to close, her lifeless eyes devoid of light._

_"No, no, no," she moaned, as she dragged a hand through Piper's hair. "Piper, please, wake up-"_

_But, there was no answer, and she could feel herself falling apart, wracking sobs tearing out of her throat. _

_"Piper, no-"_

Prue jerked as the memory ended, tears streaking down her face. She wiped the wetness away from her cheeks, surprised to find her hands shaking.

"Henry, Paige, and Tyler went out shopping to get out of the house," Piper commented, surprising her as she dropped down beside Prue on the couch. "Hey, what's with the face?"

"I just got a flash of Paige's memories," Prue told her. "You were dead, which is a sight I really don't ever want to see, again."

"What do you think it was?" Piper asked. "Paige and Henry came back to change the future; do you think that was what you saw?"

"I don't know," Prue told her. "If it was, it's a future that I will do anything to prevent. It was – it was horrible," she added, shuddering. "Creepy."

"What's creepy?" Phoebe asked, as she joined her sisters in the living room, sitting down in one of the chairs.

"Prue saw me dead," Piper told her, and Phoebe's eyes widened in shock.

"Was it bad?" she asked, in a small voice, clearly fearing the answer.

"Pretty bad," Prue confirmed, reaching over and hugging Piper, as she spoke.

"You want creepy?" Phoebe said, suddenly, in an attempt to lighten the subject. "What about whatever it is that I'm going to do to my hair in a few years?"

"You mean that really short pixie cut?" Prue asked, grinning at her younger sister. "Yeah, that was kind of extreme."

"No kidding," Phoebe said. "And you," she said, addressing Piper, "you must have hated me, or something."

"Why would you say that?" Piper demanded, laughing.

"Because, a good sister never would have let me do that to my hair," Phoebe told her, pointedly.

"Oh, come on," Piper said. "It wasn't that bad."

"My front teeth looked huge," Phoebe told her. "It was like when I was eight, all over again."

"The return of Beaver," Prue said, snickering, and Phoebe glared at her older sister.

"You promised that you were never going to call me that, again," she pouted.

"Hey," Prue protested. "You were the one who brought it up."

In answer, Phoebe reached around and grabbed the pillow behind her back, chucking it at Prue's head. Laughing, Prue deflected the pillow away from her, telekinetically sending it flying back at her younger sister. And, that was all it took for an impromptu pillow fight to break out between the three of them.

The fight between the sisters was short but fierce, and when they finally stopped throwing pillows at each other, they were all breathless with laughter. Piper and Prue dropped back onto the couch, and a few seconds later, Phoebe wormed her way in between them, throwing her arms across her sisters' shoulders.

They were still laughing when Piper's cell phone rang from where it was sitting on the coffee table, the shrill sound cutting through the noise. Gesturing for her sisters to quiet down, Piper leaned forward and snatched her phone off the table, flipping it open.

"Hello?" she asked, as she leaned back into the couch.

"Is Paige there?" Henry asked, a slightly panicked note in his voice.

"No, why?" Piper asked, looking around the living room as she spoke.

"We were out shopping, and a car backfired," Henry told her. "Paige got startled, and the next thing I knew, she orbed away. Only she didn't come back. I was really hoping that she'd orbed to the Manor."

"We'll look for her," Piper promised him. "Did you call her cell phone?"

"It's with me," Henry said, with a sigh.

"Well, we'll call you back if we find Paige," Piper said.

"Hurry, please," Henry said, a note of tension in his voice. "Her memory loss is getting worse."

"Got it," Piper said, as she hung up the phone. "Paige is missing," she told her sisters, explaining everything quickly when they looked curiously at her. "Henry thinks she might have orbed back here."

"I'll check the attic," Prue said, jumping up from the couch and heading for the stairs.

"Phoebe and I'll check down here," Piper replied, towing her younger sister with her.

They headed for the kitchen, and Piper started down the stairs to the basement while Phoebe checked in the utility room. Piper had made it halfway down the stairs when she heard voices coming from the kitchen, and she jogged back up to see Phoebe standing in the middle of the kitchen, talking to Paige.

Piper breathed a sigh of relief at seeing her youngest sister safe. She started toward the women, but before she could reach them, a Darklighter orbed into the kitchen. The Darklighter grabbed Paige's arm, making her scream with shock, and Phoebe immediately grabbed a knife from the counter, stabbing at the Darklighter.

The Darklighter knocked her hand away before it could connect. Then, he grabbed Phoebe as well, and before Piper could react, he'd orbed out of the kitchen with both women held captive.


	43. Chapter 43

**Author's Note: **Huge thanks to my awesome beta, **cruelangel101**. And, of course, thanks to my amazing readers. You guys are fantastic.

**Chapter Forty-Three**

Right after Piper had headed for the basement, Phoebe caught a glint of light out of the corner of her eye. She whirled around, smiling with relief when the orbs coalesced into a very confused looking Paige.

"Hey, Henry's worried sick about you," she scolded, lightly, and then she frowned when Paige didn't say anything. "Paige, you okay?" she pressed.

"What did you call me?" Paige asked, slowly, as she looked around the kitchen with widening eyes.

"I called you Paige," Phoebe told her. "What? Did you have another name that you never told us about?" she added, jokingly.

"I – I don't-" Paige stammered, backing up until she hit the counter behind her. "I don't know this place. Where am I? Who are you?"

"Crap," Phoebe muttered, under her breath. Then, she pasted a reassuring smile on her face as she turned to face Paige. "Okay, look. My name is Phoebe. I'm your sister."

She started to move slowly toward Paige, but the other woman backed up, quickly, her hands held up in front of her, defensively.

"Stay away from me," she said, panicked, and then she squeaked in surprise when a burst of wind shot from her hands to strike Phoebe in the chest and force her backward. "What the hell? How did I do that?"

"That's a really long story," Phoebe said, trying to inject a soothing tone into her voice, "and, I promise that I will explain everything. But, I just need you to calm down, right now, okay?"

"I-" Paige stammered, still staring at her in wide-eyed shock, and Phoebe sighed, quietly.

_'Now I think I know how Paige felt when she was trying to talk me down when I was infected with Cole's powers,'_ Phoebe thought, wryly. _'And, she's not evil; she's just scared to death.'_

She started slowly toward Paige, again, her hands held out in front of her to show that she wasn't holding anything. She'd just reached her sister when Paige's eyes widened, again, and she shrank back against the counter. Phoebe whirled around, part of her expecting just to see Piper or Prue standing behind them. As scared as Paige was, right now, she was likely to react to anything as a threat.

Which was why she was completely unprepared for the Darklighter that reached out and grabbed a panicked Paige by the arm. He grabbed Phoebe with his free hand, knocking the knife out of her hand when she grabbed one to stab at him. He easily resisted her attempts to struggle out his iron grasp. Then, he orbed the three of them out of the kitchen.

When they reformed in the Underworld, the Darklighter shoved Phoebe away from him, making her stagger over the rough ground. She turned to catch Paige, but the Darklighter hadn't let her go. Instead, he had Paige backed up against a wall, his hand at her throat as he pinned her to the stone.

"Do you have any idea how much your head is worth, witch?" he growled, and Paige whimpered in fear, her hands scrabbling futilely at the grip he had on her throat.

Phoebe saw red.

With an infuriated yell, she charged the Darklighter, taking him by surprise as she jumped on his back. She wrapped an arm around his throat, tightening her hold, and the Darklighter instinctively let go of Paige as he choked for air.

Phoebe silently cheered as Paige stumbled away from the Darklighter, a hand rubbing gently at the darkening bruises at her throat, and then she found herself flying through the air as the Darklighter threw her off him. She crashed into Paige, sending them both crashing heavily to the ground, but she scrambled to her feet as the Darklighter advanced slowly on them.

"You just had to make things difficult, didn't you?" he asked, sneering at her.

"You're not touching her," Phoebe snarled, surprising even herself with the surge of protectiveness toward Paige.

"I'm going to present the Source with her head on a platter," the Darklighter taunted her, mockingly. "Although," he went on, a second later, "it will improve my standing even further to present him with one of the Charmed Ones, along with the rogue."

"You're not touching her," Phoebe repeated, furiously.

The Darklighter just smirked at her, and then, to her surprise, he whirled around and stalked to the entrance of the cavern that they were standing in. As he passed through the doorway, he touched a trio of crystals that were embedded in the stone. The crystals glowed, brightly, and then a sheen of magic filled the doorway.

Phoebe glared at the Darklighter as he walked away, and then she crossed the cavern to the entrance. She reached out to the curtain of magic, but, like she'd expected, a jolt ran up her arm at the contact, rattling her down to her bones.

"Looks like we're stuck here," she said, wearily, as she turned back to look at Paige.

Her younger sister had pressed her back up against the far wall of the cavern, staring at the doorway in shock. Phoebe started slowly toward her, not wanting to startle the other woman, and Paige's eyes hesitantly flickered toward her.

"You yelled at that guy," she whispered, her voice rough. "He was going to – and you-"

"Well, we're sisters," Phoebe told her, with a shrug. "That's what sisters do."

"You said that your name was Phoebe?" Paige asked, hesitantly, and Phoebe nodded, encouragingly. "Phoebe," she continued, just as quietly, "how are we going to get out of here?"

"I don't know," Phoebe admitted, honestly, as she leaned against the wall, next to Paige. "I just don't know."

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"What do you mean they were kidnapped?"

Henry whirled around from where he'd paced to the other side of the living room, his hands clenched into fists.

He glared across the room to where Piper and Prue were sitting on the couch, a map of San Francisco spread out on the coffee table in front of them. Piper was busy scrying, Prue was on the phone with Andy, who was at work, and Leo was leaning against the back of the couch, his eyes closed in concentration as he tried to sense Paige and Phoebe.

Tyler was curled up in one of the armchairs, the Book propped open on his lap as he looked through the pages. He'd been silent ever since he and Henry had gotten back to the Manor, and Henry was starting to worry about him.

"It was a Darklighter," Piper told him, her voice tight with anger. "He orbed in, grabbed Phoebe and Paige, and orbed out. I wasn't fast enough to stop them," she added, a note of self-censure in her voice.

"This isn't your fault," Leo said, automatically, his voice distant. He sounded like he'd been repeating himself for a while. "You couldn't have known that a demon was going to attack."

"I should have," Piper countered, stubbornly.

Anything else she was about to say was cut off by Cole's abrupt arrival into the living room. He looked frazzled, and Henry understood why when a demon shimmered in after him a second later. The demon summoned an energy ball, but before he could throw it, he seemed to realize where he was, and he froze, with an expression of almost comical surprise on his face.

"Yeah," Piper told the demon, as she raised her hands, "this probably wasn't your smartest move."

She flicked her hands, blowing the demon up, and Cole sagged down into a chair with a relieved sigh.

"Thanks," he told Piper. "Damn bounty hunters are like gnats."

"What did you find out?" Leo asked. To Henry, he added, "Cole went to the Underworld to see if he could find Paige and Phoebe."

"Except that every time I used my sensing powers," Cole interjected, "a bounty hunter would sense me, and I'd have to go on the run, again. I barely made it back here, unscathed."

"Did you pick up any trace of Paige or Phoebe?" Henry asked, hopefully, his heart plummeting when Cole shook his head, wordlessly.

"Nothing," he said, frustration evident in his voice. "How are things going on this end?"

"We've tried scrying for them," Prue said, as she hung up the phone. "We've tried summoning spells, we've tried everything. The only problem is that for most of this stuff, we need the Power of Three."

"One third of which is currently trapped god knows where," Henry muttered. "So, you're saying that we have no options?"

"Things certainly aren't looking very good, right now," Piper admitted, quietly. Looking over at Prue, she asked, "Did Andy-"

Prue shook her head before Piper had even finished her sentence.

"He can't sense them, either," she replied. "And he's swamped at the station, right now, so he can't get away."

"So, we're still at square one," Piper sighed, as she let the listlessly-swinging scrying crystal fall to the table.

"We can't just sit here and do nothing!" Henry snapped, agitatedly. "We have to find them."

"We're trying," Prue said, the steel in her voice matching his own. "But, even with magic, we can't just snap our fingers and have Phoebe and Paige appear whenever we want."

"Maybe you can't," Henry muttered, as inspiration struck. Glaring up at the ceiling, he hollered, "Sandra!"

When there was no answer, he huffed in frustration.

"Come on, Sandra!" he yelled. "I know you can hear me! You've been spying on me ever since we came back, so why not-"

Bright lights filling the room cut off the rest of his sentence, and when the lights cleared, Sandra stood in front of him with an unreadable expression on her face. Henry ignored the surprised expressions on everyone's faces as he turned to face the Elder.

"I'm not here to be at your beck and call," she started, sounding slightly irritated.

"Yet, here you are," Henry snapped, carelessly, ignoring Leo's choked protests from the other side of the room. Clearly, he wasn't used to someone yelling at the Elders. "Sandra, Phoebe and Paige were kidnapped by demons."

"Why call me?" Sandra asked, but the question wasn't hostile, only curious.

"Because we've tried everything else, and nothing's working," Prue spoke up, getting the Elder's attention.

"When you say, everything-" Sandra started.

"We mean everything," Piper interjected. "We've tried all the summoning spells in the Book. It's like our magic is just bouncing right back at us."

"They're probably being held in some kind of magically-shielded area," Sandra suggested, "if your spells aren't working. Which could also explain why Paige simply hasn't orbed them out of danger."

"Great," Prue muttered. "So, not only are they trapped, but they're helpless, too."

"I wouldn't worry too much about that," Sandra said. "Paige and Phoebe are both formidable witches, and they should be more than capable of protecting themselves, especially with Paige's powers."

"If Paige even remembers that she has powers at this point," Piper retorted, and then she frowned at the surprised look that flashed across Sandra's face.

"Why would Paige not know about her powers?" Sandra asked, suspiciously.

"And, here we thought that you Elders knew everything," Prue quipped. "Our failed memory spell?" she prompted. "Paige's memory loss? Leo said that he told you."

"I've heard nothing about this," Sandra said, turning her severe look on Leo. "Care to explain?"

"I spoke to Caenan about it," Leo told her. "He said that he would tell the Council, but clearly-"

He trailed off, his voice frustrated.

"Caenan told us nothing," Sandra said, her voice tight with sudden anger. "Rest assured that he will be dealt with." Turning her attention to Prue and Piper, she added, "Tell me everything, please."

"Paige's memories have been coming back so slowly that we decided to do something about it," Piper began. "So, Prue and I wrote a Power of Three spell."

"But, the spell backfired," Prue said, picking up her sister's thread. "Instead of restoring Paige's memories, it transferred them to the four of us," she added, including Henry in her gesture. "We've been living Paige's memories, and she's been losing them."

"What spell did you use?" Sandra asked, and Tyler silently passed over the scrap of paper that Piper had tucked between the pages of the Book.

"We didn't think that anything in the Book was going to be appropriate," Piper said, as Sandra looked over the spell, "so we cobbled together something of our own."

"This is a good spell," Sandra said, after a moment of scrutiny. "It shouldn't have backfired."

"Well, it did," Henry snapped, angrily, resuming his antsy pacing across the living room.

He itched all over, like something was crawling under his skin. And there was an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach, a low-level feeling of fear and dread that was increasing as the seconds ticked by, a feeling that just wouldn't go away. He glared at Sandra, resenting her for the calmness that had settled over her, again, and he rubbed his hands anxiously up his arms, trying to quell the crawling sensation.

Sandra was watching him with undisguised curiosity on her face as he started another circuit across the living room.

"What?" he snapped, when he couldn't stand the staring any longer.

"What's wrong?" she asked, bluntly, ignoring his rudeness.

"I just can't sit still while my wife is in danger!" he snapped, as he spun on his heel and started toward the opposite wall. "Paige is scared to death-"

He stopped when he thought about what he'd said, realizing that, even with Paige's stolen memories, there was no way that he could possibly know what she was feeling. But, from the expression on Sandra's face, he was guessing that she knew something he didn't.

"Stand still for a moment," she said, quietly, and he obediently stopped as she crossed the room to stand in front of him.

Reaching out, she traced the air barely a millimeter above his skin. Her fingers glowed with a soft, golden light, and there was an inscrutable look on her face when she pulled her hand away.

"Well," she sighed, quietly, "you two certainly like to keep things interesting, don't you?"

"What are you talking about?" Prue demanded. "What did you do to him?"

Whatever Sandra had done to him had made the sensation worse, feeling like the time he'd electrocuted himself by accidentally grabbing a live wire. But, the itching sensation faded after a few seconds, taking with the almost overwhelming crush of Paige's emotions. He found himself breathing easier with each second, as Paige's presence in the back of his mind faded to a whisper.

"What did you do?" he asked, suspiciously, and Sandra smiled.

"I put up a barrier, of sorts," she explained, "between your soul and Paige's. It is only temporary, and it will fade over time as you get used to your bond."

"Our bond?" Henry echoed, looking suspiciously at Sandra. "What bond? What are you talking about?"

"Well," Sandra said, patiently, "how else would you explain your being mortal, and being able to feel Paige's emotions?"

"Wait a minute," Piper interrupted, holding up her hand to get Sandra's attention. "Back up. What the heck are you talking about?"

"You've seen, yourself," Sandra told her, "that some souls can form connections, over time, and even over lifetimes."

"Like our past lives," Prue guessed, "when we were all cousins, and Leo and Piper were lovers."

"Exactly," Sandra answered. "Paige and Henry have the same kind of bond. Your souls," she added, to Henry, "are so tangled together that, frankly, I'm surprised that it's taken you this long to start living in each other's heads."

"You said that you put up a barrier between our souls," Henry reminded her. "Did we need a barrier between our souls?"

"It's probably best," Sandra said, wryly, "if you don't want to go insane every time Paige is in danger."

"How is any of this supposed to help us find Paige and Phoebe?" Piper demanded, impatiently. "They're in danger, and if we don't get them out-"

"Paige isn't scared, any more," Henry interrupted, getting everyone's attention. "I can feel it; she was terrified, before, but now she's-"

"Yeah?" Prue prompted, when he fell silent. "Paige is what?"

"She's frustrated," Henry said, slowly, "she's worried-"

"Is she hurt?" Piper asked, breathing a sigh of relief when Henry shook his head.

"And, I don't think Phoebe is, either," he replied. "Paige isn't worried enough for that."

"Well, at least we know that they're okay, for now," Prue said, quietly.

"As for getting them out of danger," Sandra spoke up, "it's not likely that there is anything that you can do, from here."

"Well, aren't you just a fountain of optimism," Piper snapped, sarcastically, but Sandra remained unfazed.

"What you should focus on," she continued, "is restoring Paige's memory."

"We've been looking for a way, ever since our first spell screwed up," Prue said, shortly. "We even tried to write a reversal spell, a couple of hours ago, but it didn't do anything."

"And, with both spells," Sandra asked, slowly, "you were targeting Paige's memory?"

"Well, yeah," Piper said, as if the answer should be obvious. "Because that's where the problem is."

"I'm not so sure about that," Sandra said, getting everyone's attention. "Mind you, this is only a theory," she added, hurriedly.

"At this point," Prue said, bluntly, "we'll take what we can get."

Sandra nodded, turning her attention to Henry. "Do you remember how I combined you with your past self?" she asked.

"You said that you merged the two versions of my soul," Henry answered. "And that's how I got memories of both timelines."

"Wait a minute," Prue said, quickly, catching on. "Andy said that Paige did the same thing. She ran away from Death, or something."

"According to the Angel of Death," Sandra told them, "Paige was in the process of passing over to the Other Side when she made her escape."

"But, why would she even do that?" Henry asked, confused. "If she was moving on-"

"I do not know," Sandra admitted, honestly.

"Mom probably didn't want to leave you," Tyler spoke up, quietly, and Henry moved to his son's side, hugging the boy to him.

"We're not going to lose her, buddy," he said, reassuringly, and Tyler nodded, after a moment, flipping through the pages of the Book, again.

"So, Paige was moving on," Piper prompted, "and then she changed her mind and went back."

"It's not as simple as that," Leo interjected. "Things are – different – on the other side of the Void. Paige would have been disoriented, confused – she would have had to fight just to get back to our side."

"She might not have even come back, intact," Sandra added, picking up where Leo had left off. "If Death was determined to hold onto her, she wouldn't have had an easy time getting away."

"So, you're saying, what?" Henry asked, suspiciously. "That Paige left part of herself behind when she came back to Earth?"

"Part of her soul, yes," Sandra told him. "If she did, that could very well have caused her memory problems. It would also explain why your spell didn't work," she added, to Piper and Prue.

"Are you saying that if we want to fix Paige, we have to stuff her soul back into her body?" Piper asked, incredulously.

"Well," Sandra said, almost sheepishly, "first, you have to pull her soul out of the afterlife."


	44. Chapter 44

**Author's Note: **I'm sorry for the long wait; real life's been kind of hectic, right now. Major thanks to my beta, **cruelangel101**, for her help with this chapter. And, as always, thank you so much to all my readers. You guys are amazing.

**Chapter Forty-Four**

"Pull her soul out of the afterlife?" Piper demanded, incredulously, staring at Sandra.

"Just a small portion of it," Sandra said, clearly trying to be reassuring.

"And just how are we supposed to do that?" Prue asked, challengingly. "That sounds like it would take the Power of Three, only, whoops, we're one sister short."

She glared defiantly at the Elder, practically daring Sandra to prove her wrong.

"You use him," Cole spoke up, jerking his thumb at Henry when everyone looked over at him.

"Come again?" Prue asked, skeptically.

"When you scry for someone," Cole answered, "you need something to focus on, right?"

"Right," Prue said, slowly.

"Well, this will probably work the same way," Cole said, with a shrug. "If Henry and Paige's souls are really as tangled as she says," he continued, nodding at Sandra, "then you should be able to use him as a focus to find the rest of Paige's soul."

Silence followed his statement, as everyone tried to process what he'd just proposed.

"I don't think it works like that," Piper finally said.

"Do you have any better ideas?" Cole countered, and Piper finally sighed, her shoulders slumping in defeat.

"No," she admitted, grudgingly.

"Wait a minute," Prue spoke up, looking at Sandra, "why can't you guys find her? You Elders are supposed to be so powerful, and isn't dealing with departed souls kind of your thing?"

"There is much more to the afterlife than simply our domain," Sandra explained. "Limbo, for example."

"And, we can't just summon spirits on command," Leo added, sounding almost apologetic. "I mean, it's one thing to summon ghosts like Grams, or your mother, but another thing altogether to find a fragment of a soul."

"Which brings me back to my original question," Prue said, abruptly. "Exactly how are we supposed to do that? From where I'm sitting, it looks pretty impossible."

"No, I think Leo just gave us the answer," Piper said, excitedly. "We'll use a summoning spell."

"Were you not just listening?" Prue asked, a wry tone in her voice.

"No, no, listen," Piper said, not letting Prue's skepticism dim her enthusiasm. "We'll change up the standard summoning spell, make it more specific, and then the three of us will say it," she finished, gesturing towards Henry as she spoke.

"I'm not a witch," Henry reminded her, but Piper waved off his concern.

"No, but you're connected to Paige," she told him. "If she needs something to show her the way home, then what better focus than you?"

"That kind of sounds like a long shot," Prue spoke up, doubtfully.

"Yeah, well, it's the only shot we've got," Piper retorted.

"Assuming this works," Prue went on, undaunted, "what are we going to do with Paige's soul once we've got it?"

"Oh, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it," Piper said, dismissively. "Right now, you and I have a spell to rework."

"What about me?" Henry asked, as Piper took the Book from Tyler and started rummaging for the summoning spell. "What should I do?"

"Keep an eye on Paige and tell us if anything changes," Piper told him. "You're our advance warning system if anything goes wrong, down there."

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"I'm really sorry about being a total Bridezilla."

Paige sighed as Phoebe started up, yet again. She'd been apologizing for nearly an hour, now, ever since the latest round of memory flashes had started.

"You know that I can't actually remember anything that you've been talking about, right?" she reminded Phoebe, although she doubted that her words would have any effect. The argument certainly hadn't worked the first time she'd made it, when Phoebe had been talking about an incident with someone called Barbus.

And it didn't work, now.

"But, I really am sorry," Phoebe said, earnestly. "I mean, you were being such a great sister, and you and Piper practically planned the entire thing by yourselves, and I acted like a complete monster."

"I'm sure you weren't a monster," Paige said, automatically, hoping that she sounded reassuring, rather than irritated.

"And, then," Phoebe went on, as if she hadn't even spoken, "you took the invisibility spell onto yourself, and you fought the Lazarus demon, and you nearly died – I never did thank you for any of that, did I?"

"I don't know, Phoebe," Paige snapped, exasperatedly. "And, it's a little beside the point, don't you think, since none of it has even happened, yet?"

"And none of it is going to happen," Phoebe said, firmly. "Cole being possessed by the Source, us having to vanquish him, I have to be seeing all of these memories for a reason. I have to be able to change them."

"I'm sure we'll change everything," Paige said, reassuringly. "Have you had any more ideas of how we're supposed to get out of here?" she added, in a rather desperate bid to change the subject.

"Actually, I have," Phoebe said, and Paige breathed a sigh of relief when her tactic worked. "I thought that you could try to orb us out of here."

"Didn't we already try that?" Paige asked, glancing over at the other woman.

"No, we tried a spell," Phoebe reminded her.

"What's the difference?" Paige wanted to know.

"You're half Whitelighter," Phoebe told her. "Orbing is an innate part of you, it's who you are. And I'm hoping that, maybe, it won't be blocked by whatever magic is keeping us in here."

"Okay," Paige said, although there was more than a bit of doubt in her voice. "So, how do I orb?"

"All right," Phoebe said, excitedly, turning to face her, "close your eyes."

Paige leaned back against the stone wall of the cavern, closing her eyes and letting her hands fall into her lap.

"Breathe," Phoebe instructed, "slowly, in and out. Time your breaths to the rhythm of your heartbeat."

Paige nodded, wordlessly, taking in and releasing slow breaths. She fell into a kind of trance as she breathed, Phoebe's voice becoming more and more distant, until it was barely a whisper. But, in its place, she could hear another voice.

This one was male, and it sounded worried, and a little scared.

_'Come home,'_ it murmured, invitingly. _'Come back to me; come home.'_

The voice sounded like peace, and safety, and love. She felt warm, as the voice began to fill the empty spaces inside her, and she yearned to go to it. But, no matter how she tried, the voice remained stubbornly just out of reach. She wasn't strong enough to reach the voice; something was still missing.

"Feel yourself floating away," Phoebe said, suddenly, shattering the stillness that the voice had brought to her, and Paige grimaced at the intrusion. "Feel the power rising within you from a place of strength, feel it building within you-"

Paige focused on her breathing, again, trying to feel herself floating, just like Phoebe had said. For just a second, she thought that she could feel herself becoming lighter, becoming insubstantial –

"Do you feel the power rising within you?"

Paige opened her eyes, shooting her older sister an annoyed glare.

"Phoebe," she gritted out, "you're not helping."

"Sorry," Phoebe apologized, miming zipping her lips shut with her fingers. "I'll be quiet. I'll just sit here, and let you-"

"Phoebe!" Paige snapped, exasperated, and her sister obediently fell silent.

Paige closed her eyes, again, slowing her breathing down and concentrating on her heartbeat. After a second, she reached out and grabbed Phoebe's hand, twining their fingers together so that they weren't separated. If she really could get herself to orb, she might only get one shot at it, and she didn't want to leave Phoebe behind.

As she breathed, she could feel the same sense of weightlessness come over her. She kept it up, kept to the same, slow rhythm, and then, abruptly, the world disappeared around her.

There was a moment of exultant triumph, a moment of _'I did it!'_, and then the world came crashing heavily and painfully back down on her as she slammed into the floor of the cavern.

"Ow," Phoebe groaned, pushing herself off Paige and to her feet. "What happened?"

"I think we bounced off the wall," Paige said, pushing herself to a sitting position as she tried in vain to get her head to stop spinning, wildly.

"So much for getting out of here," Phoebe said, disgustedly, as she glared around them at their magical prison. "Hey," she added, a couple seconds later, looking over at Paige, "are you okay?"

"I think I'm going to be sick," Paige mumbled, as her stomach rolled, dangerously.

"Try to breathe through it," Phoebe said, helpfully, as she reached over and rubbed Paige's back, comfortingly. "I felt the same thing, the first time I shimmered with Cole's powers. It'll pass, don't worry."

"If this is supposed to be a part of me," Paige retorted, weakly, her head resting on her knees, "I don't think it's a part that I'm going to like, very much."

But, she breathed, slowly, and eventually the nauseous sensation passed. She breathed a quiet sigh of relief as she leaned back against the wall, soaking in the heat from Phoebe's arm around her shoulders.

"What now?" she asked, tiredly. "If that didn't work to get us out of here, we're kind of screwed, aren't we?"

"Don't think like that," Phoebe said, firmly. "Prue and Piper will find a way to save us. Don't worry."

They fell into silence, sitting together as they both stared pensively at the sheen of magic that covered the entrance to the cavern. Then, Phoebe spoke up, again, her voice hesitant, this time.

"Paige? I'm really sorry about not believing you about Cole-"

Paige groaned, letting her head fall into her hands.


	45. Chapter 45

**Author's Note:** Thanks so much to my amazing beta, **cruelangel101**, for all her help in keeping this chapter from being a mess. And thank you so much to all my readers; you guys are amazing.

**Chapter Forty-Five**

Henry held his breath as Piped tossed the last potion ingredient into the cauldron, then sighed when nothing happened except for a thin tendril of smoke emerging from the cauldron.

"Guess that one's a bust," Prue said, flatly, her lips pressed into a thin line as she glared down at the failed potion with enough ferocity that Henry was surprised that the entire thing didn't burst into flames.

"So, we'll find another way," Piper said, stubbornly. "Fifth time's the charm, right?"

Prue heaved an aggravated sigh, but otherwise didn't comment. Instead, she looked down at the scattered pieces of paper that she and Piper had been making notes on for the last hour.

"What about the spell to call a lost witch?" she asked, as she tried to make sense of the mess on the table. "Have we already done that one?"

"Half an hour ago," Tyler spoke up, from where he was still curled up on one of the chairs.

He tipped up the pad of paper that he'd been writing on, and Henry could see neatly-drawn columns labeled 'attempt', 'spell', 'potion', and 'outcome'. On the most recent row, he'd scribbled 'puff of smoke' under 'outcome', with a large F next to it.

"You modified the spell so that it would call for a lost relative," Tyler continued, as he looked at his notes. "It called your aunt, Brianna, instead," he added, glancing up at them.

Henry remembered that one. The Halliwell ancestor had initially been irritated at being summoned, but the irritation had turned to concern when she'd heard what had happened. Before she'd left, she'd promised to tell the other Halliwell ghosts about what had happened, with all of them looking for Paige Up There.

"Is that the only time we've tried that spell?" Piper asked, as she and Prue abandoned their haphazard notes for Tyler's orderly list.

When Tyler nodded, Piper turned to Prue with a speculative look on her face.

"What if we changed the spell again, made it more specific?" she suggested. "Rewrite it to include Henry. I mean, we're using him in the spell; we might as well give it as much of a punch as we can."

"It's worth a try," Prue said, with a shrug. "Let's get writing."

As the two of them bent to their work, Henry moved over to where Tyler was sitting. He perched on the arm of the chair, looking over his son's shoulder to read the notes he'd been taking. He'd scribbled little drawings on the margins of his paper, including a rough but clear sketch of Paige's face.

"We're going to find her, buddy," Henry said, reassuringly.

"I know," Tyler answered, looking up at him with a wan smile on his face. "I just wish I could do more than sit here and write stuff down," he added, ruefully.

"I know what you mean," Henry told him. "It's hard feeling like you can't do anything."

"Oh, you'll be doing something," Prue spoke up, overhearing him. "You'll be saying the spell with us."

"Which works how, exactly?" Henry asked, curiously. "I'm not a witch. I don't have any powers to add to the spell."

"You don't need powers; that's what Prue and I are here for," Piper told him. "And besides, we're not trying to call Paige as witches; we're trying to call her as her family. And, of all of us, Paige has the closest connection to you, especially if what Sandra says about your souls is true."

"It is," Sandra spoke up, from where she was standing beside Leo and Cole, watching them.

Henry noticed, idly, that Sandra seemed just as comfortable beside Cole as she did Leo, and he wondered who that said more about: the Elder or the demon.

"I guess," he said, doubtfully, answering Piper's comment. "It's just that Paige and I already went through something like this, when a Cupid stuck Paige's soul into my head. I could channel her powers, but I still couldn't make a spell work."

"This is different," Prue told him. "You're not providing any power to this spell. You're a conduit to Paige."

"Speaking of power," Piper spoke up, looking over at Sandra, "why aren't you helping us out, here? You've got all this power; share the wealth."

"She's got a point," Leo said, wryly, to the Elder. "And, it's not like you need to worry about being vulnerable, not with two Charmed Ones, a demon, and a Firestarter watching out for you."

"Vulnerable?" Henry echoed, and Sandra nodded.

"For an Elder, sharing our power among others leaves us vulnerable, without protection until we can recharge our powers," she explained. "As a rule, it is left to only the most dire of circumstances. But, I think now calls for an exception."

She closed her eyes in concentration, glowing orbs forming in her hands a few seconds later. She gestured and the lights floated across the room to enter Piper and Prue, making them glow, briefly.

"You did that without a spell," Prue said, impressed.

"The result of being several hundred years old," Sandra told her, sounding exhausted. "The power transfer will only be temporary, but you should be very careful about using your active powers while it lasts. Some of the effects may be … magnified."

"Do we have your powers, now?" Piper asked, sounding confused. "Can we orb, and everything?"

"You have my strength," Sandra corrected. "What I gave was Power in a pure form, energy without shape or restraint. In you, the Power supplements your own, natural powers."

"So, basically, we're a couple of Super Witches," Prue said, and Sandra gave a short laugh.

"For a short time," she told them.

"Then, let's get this spell done," Piper said, abruptly, "before this extra power wears off."

Getting up, Henry went over to the couch and sat down between Piper and Prue, clasping each of their hands in his own. Then, he looked down at the piece of paper where the modified summoning spell had been written.

_"Our blood and soul, we call to thine,_

_Lost soul of the Warren line._

_Set adrift and forced to roam,_

_Come to us who call you home."_

At the same time, Piper and Prue both pricked their fingers, letting drops of their blood fall into the potion. They all held their breath as the blood fell into the potion, and as the seconds passed, Henry could feel his shoulders slumping with disappointment.

But, before he could say anything, the air over the cauldron started to glow. The light got brighter and brighter, until a ball of light about the size of his fist floated in front of their faces. Even as he stared at the light in amazement, it drifted over and brushed against the side of his face.

There was a jolt like an electric shock, and he thought he could hear the ghostly echo of Paige's laughter. Then, as he lifted a hand toward the light, it came to rest on his cupped fingers, sending a low hum of energy through his body.

"It worked," he told Piper and Prue, who were watching him with undisguised curiosity. "This is Paige's soul."

"Great," Prue said, immediately jumping to the next matter at hand. "Now, we just need to figure out how to send her to Hell."

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"Keep moving, witch."

As the knife at her back pricked at her skin through her shirt, Paige picked up her pace. She resisted the urge to crane her head around and glare at her demonic captor; the last time she'd done that, she'd gotten a fist in the face, and had a black eye to show for her troubles.

Several feet ahead, Phoebe was being similarly frog-marched down the corridor to their unknown destination. Her back was stiff and her gait rigid, and Paige didn't have to have her memories to know that her sister was pissed off.

Not that she blamed her. Their demonic captor had come back for them, with reinforcements. The demons had stormed their makeshift prison, taking them captive before either of them had been able to react. And they were smart, keeping her and Phoebe separated as they herded them down the corridor. Especially since Paige wasn't sure that she had it in her for one more orb, let alone orbing over to Phoebe and then orbing them both away.

Not to mention that the demon that had captured them had explicitly threatened to cut Phoebe's throat if Paige tried to escape, at all.

_'I wish I could remember how to use these stupid powers,'_ Paige thought, angrily. _'Phoebe told me that I'm supposed to be so powerful, but I'm completely useless. We wouldn't even be in this situation if I'd been able to fight off the demons when they came for us-'_

Her self-berating thoughts were cut off when she was shoved unceremoniously through a doorway into a large cavern. She stumbled across the rough ground, catching herself with her hands when she fell, and she felt the impact jolt painfully up through her arms. She picked herself up off the ground, and she saw Phoebe a few feet away, dusting herself off.

"You okay, Paige?" Phoebe called back to her, in a low voice.

"Just peachy," Paige snapped, irritably, as she glared at the smirking demons. "What's so funny?" she demanded, angrily, feeling braver now that a demon wasn't holding a knife to her sister's throat.

The demons just kept sneering at them, but then the smirks fell off their faces a few seconds later, and they all knelt to the ground, bowing their heads low. Suddenly very nervous, Paige crept closer to Phoebe, reaching out blindly and wrapping her hand around her sister's as they both looked around the cavern.

Where the cavern had been empty only a second earlier, except for them and their captors, a hulking, hooded demon stood watching them. The demon's hands were tucked into the sleeves of its blood-red robe, and its face was completely concealed by an enormous, billowing hood.

"Who the hell is that?" Phoebe asked, in an undertone, and Paige jerked her shoulders in a tiny shrug.

"You're asking me?" she demanded, in a hushed whisper. "Whoever that is, we're screwed; I know that much."

"Very perceptive," the demon rumbled, having heard her despite her best efforts to be quiet.

His deep voice sent a blast of pure terror through Paige, and she had to fight, hard, to keep from shrinking away when the dark hood swung in her direction.

"Do you think you can orb?" Phoebe whispered, suddenly, her voice barely audible.

Paige nodded, slightly, but she doubted that it would do any good. Their captors wouldn't have gone to such lengths to keep them separated just to get sloppy, now. If they were letting her and Phoebe within arms' reach of each other, then it was probably because they didn't have to worry about them doing anything.

But, that didn't mean that she wouldn't try.

She gripped Phoebe's hand, firmly, reaching for the well of power that her sister had helped her access, before. After a few seconds of intense concentration, she could feel herself getting lighter, just like earlier, but she wasn't really surprised when they came crashing back to the ground a few moments later.

As she stood up, pulling Phoebe up with her, she looked around to see the demons smirking openly at them. Behind the demons, she could see a glint of color embedded in the doorway, and Phoebe swore, softly, when she saw the same thing.

"Those damn power-blocking crystals," she muttered, furiously.

"You didn't really think that I would be unprepared, did you?" the mysterious demon asked. "I haven't held onto my power base for centuries by being a fool."

"You're the Source," Phoebe said, suddenly, her eyes going wide with shock, and Paige shot her a look, silently demanding an explanation. "The Source of all Evil," Phoebe continued, after a moment. "Out of all the demons we've ever faced, he's the worst."

"Very good," the Source said, sardonically.

"If that's the Big, Bad Wolf, then why isn't he huffing and puffing?" Paige demanded, in an undertone. "Shouldn't we be dead by now?"

"Ordinarily, yes," the Source broke in, overhearing her. "But, I have an offer for the two of you."

"What kind of offer?" Phoebe asked, suspiciously, glaring at the Source.

"You have two choices," the Source told them. "You could resist me, and I'll kill you, and send my demons after your sisters. Or-"

"Or-" Paige demanded, impatiently, when the Source trailed off into maddening silence.

"Or," the Source finally went on, "you could join me."


	46. Chapter 46

**Author's Note:** Thanks so much to my amazing beta, **cruelangel101**, for all her help with this chapter. And thank you so much to all my readers; you guys are amazing.

**Chapter Forty-Six**

"Join you," Phoebe echoed, flatly, exchanging an incredulous look with Paige. "Why in Hell would we do that?"

"Because we could give you power beyond even your wildest dreams," a new voice spoke up, and they turned around to see a dark-haired woman in a red dress move up to stand beside the Source.

"We're already pretty powerful on our own, thanks," Phoebe said, flippantly, squeezing Paige's hand, painfully, as they slowed backed away from the demons.

They didn't get very far, though, as the Source's minions moved in, hemming them in and keeping them from retreating, anywhere. Almost instinctively, Paige moved until she was back-to-back with her sister, keeping a wary eye on the scowling demons.

"This is power that you cannot even comprehend," the second demon told them, her voice low and persuasive. "Never again would you have to fear for your safety, or that of your loved ones."

"I would even spare the life of the traitor, Balthazar," the Source added. "He would willingly follow you back into our fold, anyway," he went on, addressing Phoebe.

"Why would we possibly join you?" Paige demanded, echoing Phoebe's earlier comment. "You kill people. You've tried to kill us."

"Necessary deaths," the Source said, and Phoebe snorted, incredulously. "But, we leave far more humans alive than we kill."

"I have seen a world decimated by our battles," the second demon went on, a strange half smile on her face. "Good and evil, both, utterly destroyed by our fighting. You can't tell me that you would prefer the complete destruction of your world."

"Better than turning evil and helping you cause that destruction," Paige snapped, furiously, but Phoebe put a hand on her arm, stopping her tirade before it could get started.

"Now, wait a minute," Phoebe said, suddenly, as Paige turned and stared at her in shock. "Let's not just dismiss this out of hand."

"Excuse me?" Paige demanded, glaring at her sister. "Phoebe, have you lost your mind?"

"No, no, hear me out," Phoebe told her. "Maybe the Source has a point."

"And, I repeat," Paige said, emphatically, "have you lost your freaking mind?"

"Excuse us," Phoebe said, abruptly, to the Source, "my sister and I need to talk about this in private for a second."

She dragged Paige to the other side of the cavern, pushing through the demons that tried to block their way. They moved to a secluded spot against the wall, and Phoebe glared at the demons that tried to intrude on their space, smirking slightly when they reluctantly backed off.

"I could get used to doing that," she commented, as Paige stared at her in disbelief."Imagine the kind of power that we could have if we actually took the Source up on his offer."

"What the Hell has gotten into you?" Paige demanded, in a hushed voice. "What happened to trying to get out of here?"

"Oh, relax, would you?" Phoebe said, waving her hand, dismissively. "I'm not serious; I'm just trying to buy us some time."

Paige closed her eyes, slumping against the wall in relief.

"Buy us time for what?" she finally asked. "We're stuck in Hell, we can't escape, and we're going to die."

"Way to think positive, Sis," Phoebe chided her, and Paige opened her eyes to shoot her a half-hearted glare.

"What I can't figure out," she said, softly, "is why we haven't been killed."

"Because," Phoebe said, wryly, "the Source apparently thinks we can all be best buddies."

"Yeah, but why?" Paige asked, incredulously.

"Why not?" Phoebe suggested, with a shrug. "Yeah, he could kill us, but just imagine what would happen if he turned us. Not only would he have two powerful witches under his control, but he would have broken the Power of Three and gotten a clear path to corrupting Prue and Piper, too. And, if we say no, he'll kill us, anyway, which still eliminates the Charmed Ones. This is a win-win situation for the Source."

"You're so reassuring," Paige told her, dryly.

"I'm just trying to be realistic," Phoebe started, but then her voice trailed off as her eyes widened in surprise.

"What's wrong?" Paige asked, discreetly following her sister's gaze, and then she saw what Phoebe was looking at.

A ball of light was hovering at the ceiling of the cavern, up high enough that none of the demons seemed to notice it. It was darting erratically around the ceiling, like it was looking for something. Then, suddenly, the light zipped over to where they were, stopping in front of Paige at face level.

Phoebe moved, nonchalantly, until she was blocking the demon's view of the light. Paige cautiously held out a hand, gasping in shock when the light brushed against her outstretched fingers and sending a jolt of electricity running through her.

"What is that?" Phoebe whispered, but Paige shook her head.

"I don't-" she started, but then she broke off when the light started to move, again.

It pressed against her skin, making her itch all over. Then, to her complete disbelief, the light disappeared into her body.

"Oh, that can't be good," Phoebe muttered, shooting the demons an uneasy look, just in case one of them had seen what had happened.

Paige just clutched at Phoebe's arms, trying to fight the nausea that threatened to overwhelm her. Her head was spinning, wildly, and tiny, black spots were dancing in her field of vision.

But, as quickly as the dizziness had started, it ended, and she stood straighter, cautiously. She took a deep breath as she regained her bearings, the disoriented feeling disappearing after a few seconds.

As the disorientation disappeared, determination took its place. She was still afraid, but she resolutely pushed it away. She could be afraid, later; now, it would only hurt her and Phoebe.

As she looked around, spotting the Source and the Seer standing on the opposite side of the corner, she felt anger, and the desire to see both upper level demons, along with their glowering minions, vanquished once and for all.

_'Five years, and I'm still not rid of you,'_ she thought, grimly, resisting the urge to glare at the Source. _'But, I'll be damned if you tear apart my family, again. We will end you.'_

"You okay?" Phoebe asked, in a quiet voice, breaking into her thoughts.

"Better than okay," Paige said, determination in her voice. When Phoebe cocked a curious eyebrow at her, silently demanding an explanation, she continued, "I'm back."

"Back?" Phoebe echoed, confused, and then Paige's meaning seemed to hit her. "Wait, your memories?"

"Not so loud," Paige hissed, looking around, quickly, to make sure that they hadn't been overheard. "And, yeah, my memories."

"But, how?" Phoebe asked, bewildered.

"Prue and Piper did it," Paige told her, shortly. "It's a long story; I'll explain once we're safely out of here."

"How are we going to do that, anyway?" Phoebe asked. "I was stalling to give us more time, but I didn't really have a plan beyond that point."

"I think I've got something," Paige said, slowly. "But, we're going to have to fight our way out of here."


	47. Chapter 47

**Author's Note: **As always, thanks to my beta, **cruelangel101**, for her help with this chapter. And, thanks to all my readers and reviewers.

And, on that note, I promised you guys a surprise when _Tempus Fugit_ hit 500 reviews. So, from now until I post Chapter Forty-Eight, I will take requests for Charmed fics. I can't promise that I will be able to accommodate every request, but I will certainly try. I do ask that you keep the requests as one-shots, please, and nothing that would require rewriting a season, or the entire show. I have enough of those plot bunnies, already. Just leave your request in a review, or PM me, and leave me some way to contact you so that I can tell you if I can't fulfill your request.

**Chapter Forty-Seven**

"I'm okay with a fight," Phoebe told her. "What do you think I did when Cole, Leo and I were stuck down here for nearly a week?"

"Don't get so cocky," Paige cautioned her, a warning tone in her voice. "We're not just facing a bunch of Brute demons, here. We're going to be going up against the Source, not to mention a demon who's outlived several previous Sources."

"Yeah, I remember her from your memories," Phoebe said, shooting the Seer a wary look out of the corner of her eye. "Bitch," she muttered, a second later, and Paige had to fight the smirk tugging at the corners of her mouth.

"I'm hoping that you also remember how dangerous she is?" she retorted, and Phoebe nodded, shortly.

"Don't worry," she replied. "I'm not going to do anything to get either of us hurt."

"Good," Paige told her. "All right, I'm going to-"

She cut herself off at Phoebe's abrupt gesture, and she followed her sister's gaze to see her looking over at the Source and the Seer. Paige was about to ask what was up when she realized why Phoebe was so quiet. The acoustics in the cavern that kept them from being overheard also provided the chance to hear what the Source and the Seer were discussing.

"And if we can't get them to join us?" the Source was saying, a dangerous rumble in his voice as he glared at the Seer.

"We must," the Seer replied, stubbornly. "If what I have foreseen comes to pass-"

"Then we kill the witches and take the child for ourselves," the Source retorted, but the Seer shook her head.

"He will not be so easily corrupted as that, especially if we kill the witches," she said, warningly. "The power that this boy will wield-"

"What do you think they're talking about?" Phoebe hissed, suddenly, breaking Paige's concentration as she tried to listen to the demons.

"Nothing good," Paige replied, an uneasy feeling twisting at her gut.

"Do you think that they could be talking about Tyler?" Phoebe went on, and Paige could feel her insides turn to ice at the thought of the demons getting their claws on her son.

"I don't know," she said, as the possibility that she hadn't even considered was cemented in her mind.

Her first thought, when she'd heard what the Source and the Seer were talking about had been Wyatt. Twice-blessed, future wielder of Excalibur, one of the most powerful magical forces in existence – it was no wonder that the Source would want to corrupt him and turn him evil. But, he also wasn't even going to be born for another year, and while demons could be patient, Paige didn't think that they had that kind of patience.

That was also why she didn't think that Chris was their target. His birth was over two years away; demons weren't usually so long-reaching as that.

But, she also remembered another child that the Seer had been obsessed with: Phoebe and Cole's son, and the last host of the Source. He might have been soulless and evil after being possessed by the Source, but he'd been a human child at some point in life, before the Seer had gotten her claws in him. And his conception was only a few months away, if she remembered correctly.

_'You've already taken Phoebe's son away from her, once,' _she thought, glaring at the demons who were still talking amongst themselves, _'and I'll die before I let you get your hands on any of our kids, again.'_

"You ready?" she asked, Phoebe, in a quiet undertone.

"Ready," Phoebe confirmed, her own voice just as quiet. "Hey, Paige," she added, suddenly, "do you remember when we were being held in the Underworld, in that cage?"

"The skeletal vortex demon?" Paige hissed, even as she wondered what Phoebe was getting at.

"Do you remember how we got out?" Phoebe went on, and Paige nodded, grimly.

"You think that if we summon Piper and Prue," she started, and Phoebe nodded, cutting her off. "We'll have to make it quick, though," Paige told her. "I think our hosts are starting to get suspicious."

She reached out for Phoebe's hand, squeezing her sister's fingers. Then, in barely more than a whisper, they began to chant in unison.

"Power of the witches, rise, course unseen-"

They'd barely started the spell when a swirl of bright lights filled the middle of the cavern, getting the attention of the demons standing around. Paige swore softly under her breath when she saw the lights.

"I guess Prue and Piper had the same idea we did," she said, and Phoebe nodded.

"I'll get to them, you distract the demons?" she suggested.

Paige nodded in agreement, since she'd been thinking the same thing. She and Phoebe separated, Phoebe darting toward their newly-arrived sisters while Paige ran toward the Source and the Seer.

She flung out a hand, sending a jagged bolt of lightning streaking toward the demons. She didn't expect it to actually hurt either of them, but it accomplished exactly what she had been hoping for. The Source's minions, seeing their leaders in danger, immediately moved to protect him – and left her sisters alone.

She dove out of the way of an incoming energy ball, hitting the ground, hard, and stumbling back to her feet. But the maneuver had only served to get her pinned in, with the demons closing in, quickly.

A quick gesture sent a sheet of flame flying out from her hands, incinerating the closest demon and forcing the others away from her. Then, she orbed to the other side of the cavern, taking a quick, relieved breath when she rematerialized.

"Hey, a little help, here!" she yelled at her sisters, as the demons started toward her, again, and then two of them blew up, leaving her with only two to deal with. "Thank you!"

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Prue, Piper and Phoebe standing shoulder to shoulder, identically-determined expressions on their faces. Their mouths were moving, chanting something, and Paige desperately hoped that it was the same spell that she was thinking of.

When one of the remaining demons started to get too close to her sisters, Paige hit him with a burst of wind that snatched him up and flung him into the wall, knocking him senseless with the impact. At the same time, she heard a snatch of hers sisters' spell carried on the wind, and she cheered, silently.

"-Laura and Grace; vanquish this evil-"

She could see the Source doubled over from the force of the spell. The hood of his robe had fallen away from his scarred face, and there was an agonized expression clear on his features.

_'It's over,'_ she thought, fiercely triumphant, as she watched the demon squirm. _'You're finished; this is it-'_

Then, she stared in shock and fury as the Seer grabbed the Source and teleported them both out of the cavern. A second later, the remaining minion demon followed suit, and she could hear her sisters trailing off into silence.

"Damn it!" she swore, hotly, staring at the spot where the demons had been standing. "We were so close!"

"We'll get him, next time," Prue spoke up, before anyone else could say anything, but Paige shook her head in frustration.

"He'll be ready for us, now," she said, shortly.

"So, we'll be ready for him," Prue countered, matching Paige's stubbornness with her own.

Paige just sighed, deflating as her anger left her.

"This is the fifth time I've gone up against the Source," she told her sisters, her tone flat. "I want him gone."

"Speaking of gone," Phoebe spoke up, "how did they even escape? Those power-blocking crystals are still in place."

Paige shrugged in reply, but when she went over the entrance to the cavern, she saw the answer.

"One of the crystals was damaged in the attack," she called out, as she traced the crack running the length of one of the crystals.

"Well, I vote we destroy the rest of them," Phoebe told her. "That way, they can't be used against us in the future."

"Got it," Paige replied, stepping back.

She flung a bolt of lightning at one of the crystals, frowning when the blast barely scratched the surface.

"Hey, Piper," she called, glancing back at her sisters, "come help me blow these things up."

"You might want to stand back," Piper cautioned her, as she joined her. "Prue and I kind of supercharged our powers, and I don't know how big this is going to get."

"What do you mean you supercharged your powers?" Paige asked, suspiciously, taking a step back.

"Oh, we borrowed some power from an Elder," Piper told her, and then she flung her hands out.

Paige watched in amazement as the entire arched entryway exploded, bits of shattered crystal and stone raining down all around them. Then, the backlash of Piper's explosion hit her, the concussive force sending her flying backward through the air.

She instinctively curled her arms around her head even as she orbed out, rematerializing next to Piper with an incredulous expression on her face.

"What the heck was that?" she demanded.

"Hey," Piper protested, defensively, "I warned you to stand back."

"Keep your hands down," Paige snapped, edging away from her sister when she started to gesture with her hands. "You, too," she added, to Prue.

"And, let's go home before you blow anything else up," Phoebe added. "I've had more than enough of Hell for one lifetime."

"How are we getting out of here?" Prue asked, as she looked around, and Paige rolled her eyes, good-naturedly.

"Whitelighter Express," she replied, as she and Piper joined Prue and Phoebe. "Everyone hang on."


	48. Chapter 48

**Author's Notes: **To everyone who sent me requests for standalone fics, I'm working on them, and should have the first up soon. And, I'm keeping requests open, for the time being, because it's just so much fun.

Major thanks to my beta, **cruelangel101**, who was a great help with this chapter.

**Chapter Forty-Eight**

When they orbed back to the Manor, the first person Paige saw was Henry.

"Hey, honey," she greeted him, grinning.

"You remember me?" Henry asked, a note of cautious hope in his voice.

"I remember everything," she told him, happily.

Henry whooped with excitement, bounding across the living room to wrap his arms around her in a crushing hug. Tyler was behind him by mere seconds, holding tightly onto both his parents.

"You're okay, right, Mom?" he asked, anxiously, and Paige nodded.

"I'm fine," she reassured him. "We're all fine."

She turned to look over at her sisters, and then her eyes widened in shock when a swirl of bright white lights left Prue and Piper to enter into Sandra.

"What the heck was that?" Phoebe demanded, the same shocked look on her face that Paige knew had to be on hers.

"It's Sandra's powers wearing off," Prue explained, nonchalantly.

"Wearing off?" Paige echoed, an incredulous tone in her voice. "Wait a minute; let me get this straight. You two magicked yourselves into the Underworld with borrowed powers, and you didn't know what the time limit was?"

"We figured that we'd have enough time," Piper said, with a shrug, and Paige exchanged a wordless look with Phoebe.

"I – I'm speechless," she said, stunned. "You yell at them," she added, to Phoebe. "I'm going to go talk to Cole."

As she walked across the room, she heard Phoebe's indignant, "Are the two of you crazy?", and she smiled.

Then, she stopped in front of Cole, staring pensively at the man that she'd hated for so long.

"Can we talk?" she asked, quietly, and Cole shrugged.

"Sure," he agreed, a confused, curious look on his face.

They moved into the hallway, out of earshot of everyone else. Cole leaned against the wall, his arms folded across his chest as he stared at her. Paige leaned against the opposite wall, taking a moment to get her thoughts into order.

"I know what you're planning to do," she finally said, and Cole raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Really," he drawled. "And, what would that be?"

"Power stripping potion," Paige said, clarifying. "You want to get rid of Balthazar, become human. And, I admire you for it, trust me."

"So, what's the problem?" Cole asked.

"You can't do it," Paige told him, flatly. "Not yet, anyway."

"Care to explain that one?" he asked.

"After Piper, Phoebe, and I vanquished the Source the first time," Paige said, "you were possessed. The Source took you over, because you were just human, and we had to vanquish you."

"You think that if I keep Balthazar around, that I won't be possessed?" Cole asked.

"I don't know," Paige admitted, honestly. "But, everything that happened, everything that we went through – I can't do it, again. I can't put my family through that, again." She sighed, heavily. "I'm hoping that if we change enough details, then we'll be able to avoid the whole mess."

"It's worth a shot," Cole said. "All right; I'll forego the potion, for now. But, I don't want to stay a demon, forever. I want to be human, for my own sake, and not just Phoebe's."

"Not forever," Paige reassured him. "Just until after we vanquish the Source. I think if we can take care of that, everything else will fall into place."

"And if it doesn't?" Cole asked, a cautious tone in his voice.

"Then, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it," Paige said, with a sigh. She shook her head, ruefully, "You know, when we first came back, I kind of thought that saving Prue would have been enough. I had this crazy idea that if I could just save her, everything else would just fall neatly into place."

"Things seem to be going okay," Cole suggested.

"Yeah, but what if I slip up?" Paige asked, plaintively. "What if I miss something, or change something I shouldn't have, and someone suffers as a result? How do I know the right thing to do?" Closing her eyes, she let her head thump back against the wall. "God. Now I think I know how Chris felt all the time."

"Who?" Cole asked, and Paige waved him off.

"Future stuff," she said, vaguely, not really wanting to go into details.

Opening her eyes, she looked across the hallway at him.

"What?" Cole said, when he noticed Paige studying him.

Paige shrugged, unsure how to put her thoughts into words. "I misjudged you," she finally told him.

"What do you mean?" Cole asked, curiously.

"When you were possessed by the Source," Paige replied, "he – he fixated on me, I guess you could call it. I was the youngest, the most inexperienced, and I guess torturing me was fun for him, or something. I would have these nightmares – wake up screaming-"

She broke off, shuddering at the all-too-vivid memories. She wished that the time that she'd been infected by the power broker had remained a blank, forever. But, little details had started creeping into her dreams at night, and those half-remembered flashes still haunted her, even years later.

"You were lucky to have survived," Cole spoke up, breaking into her thoughts. "Most don't, not when the Source goes after them."

"You saved my life, actually," Paige said, clearly surprising him. "You fought the Source's hold over you, fought for control. Your humanity was a lot stronger than I think he was expecting."

"Must not have been," Cole commented, "if you had to vanquish me, anyway."

"You were strong," Paige reiterated, firmly. "But, I couldn't see any of that," she added, softly. "I just saw the Source wearing your face, and after a while, I stopped being able to separate the two of you in my mind. I forgot that you were just as much a victim as the rest of us, and I'm so sorry for that."

"You know," Cole told her, "you don't have to apologize for something that hasn't happened, yet. Isn't going to happen," he corrected himself, quickly, and Paige smiled at the determination in his tone.

"Call it holding myself accountable for my own actions, then," she told him. "I made a lot of mistakes the first time around, but I'm going to be better this time. I promise."

"Why the change of heart?" Cole asked, curiously. "I mean, from the sound of it, you hated me for what happened. What happened to change your mind?"

"Most Whitelighters, when they get their wings," Paige said, "they get to see their past lives as a part of their training. It gives them perspective, helps them to be better Whitelighters. Mine had to be a little different, though, since I was still alive when I became a Whitelighter."

"How so?" Cole asked.

"Instead of seeing my past lives," Paige replied, "I got to look back on this one. I got the chance to take another look at my life up to that point, including the time when you were possessed by the Source, and I got to see things from outside of my own perspective. It was an eye-opener," she added, ruefully, "and I learned some valuable lessons from it. Including how to forgive."

A throat clearing, nearby, got both their attentions, and they turned to see Sandra watching them.

"Paige, I've been speaking with the rest of the Council about what has happened," she said, before either of them could say anything. "They want to meet with you over this recent development."

"Good," Paige replied, clearly surprising the Elder, "because I want to meet with them, too."

"We need to get going," Sandra told her. "The rest of the Council is impatient to speak with you."

"Of course they are," Paige said, with a sigh.

She, Sandra, and Cole went back out into the living room, where everyone was still gathered. Henry and Tyler looked up at her when she walked in, and she smiled apologetically before either of them could say anything.

"The Elders want to talk to me," she said, in response to the unspoken question she could see in Henry's eyes. "I don't know how long it's going to take."

"I'll wait up for you," Henry told her, and Paige shook her head.

"You don't have to," she insisted, but Henry cut her off.

"I'll wait up for you," he said, firmly. "Be careful."

"I will," Paige promised, and then she and Sandra orbed away.

When they reformed, Paige looked around to see that they were standing in the Tribunal's space. She took an instinctive step back from the magical projector in the middle of the area, her eyes widening in alarm.

"Oh, hell no," she said, emphatically, glaring at Sandra. "You're not getting me near that thing, again."

"Paige, this is the most efficient way to share your experiences with the entire Council," Sandra said, hurriedly. "It is a tool, nothing more. You are not on trial, here."

"Now," Paige muttered, still giving the projector an uneasy glance.

"What is that supposed to mean?" a familiar voice demanded, and Paige looked over to see Odin watching her, suspiciously.

"Enough, Odin," Sandra said, sharply, before Paige could say anything in reply. "Paige, if you are truly not comfortable, here-"

"No, I'll do it," Paige acquiesced, reluctantly. "But, I'll decide what gets shown," she added, ignoring Odin's indignant protest.

"Then," Sandra said, "let us begin."


	49. Chapter 49

**Author's Note: **A million thanks to my amazing beta, **cruelangel101**, without whose help this story would probably not have gotten this far. And to my readers; you guys are amazing.

**Chapter Forty-Nine**

Paige followed Sandra back into the middle of the space, but she stopped before she got close enough to the projector to activate it. Sandra walked around the outside of the space until she was standing with the other Elders gathered on the opposite side of the projector, all of them staring at Paige across the space.

Paige had to resist the urge to squirm, uncomfortably, under their steady, direct gazes. Despite Sandra's reassurances, it sure felt like she was on trial.

"In your time in the future," Odin began, imperiously, and Paige cut him off, abruptly.

"You want to use _that_," she said, nodding at the projector, "to take a peek into my head, and use what I know to prevent future disasters. Much as I hate the method, I'm all for the prevention part of the plan, so let's just get to it, shall we?"

Someone chuckled, and Paige recognized Remus as the Elder leaned closer to Odin.

"She's just like her grandmother," Remus muttered, and Odin scowled at the comment, a dark expression on his face.

"If you will step toward the projector," he snapped, "we will get started."

Paige took a step forward, struggling not to step back as the projector flared to life.

_She and Henry were lying in bed. She had her head pillowed on his chest, and his arms were wrapped loosely around her waist. _

_"How many kids do you want?" Henry asked, and she lifted her head to look at him, curiously. _

_"Where did that come from?" she asked, with a chuckle, and Henry shrugged. _

_"I don't know," he admitted. "Just wondering, you know. I've always wanted a big family. Four, maybe five, kids."_

_"Only if you're going to be the one getting pregnant," she said, incredulously, and Henry laughed. _

Paige jerked away from the projector, the images dying as soon as she was out of range. She bent double, breathing heavily with her hands on her knees. Her head spun and she felt dizzy. She could feel a phantom twinge of pain running through her abdomen, and she unconsciously curled her arms around her stomach. When she realized what she was doing, she forced her arms to fall back to her sides, straightening as she glared at the gathered Elders.

"You don't get to see that," she gritted out, fighting the tears that threatened to escape her control. "That's personal."

"Of course," Sandra said, her voice low, soothing. "Whenever you're ready, Paige. There's no rush."

Paige nodded, taking a few, deep breaths to try and center herself. As soon as she felt steady, she moved toward the projector, again, bracing herself for what might be shown.

_She and Phoebe were standing in the attic. _

_"Okay, fine," Phoebe said, with a heavy sigh, "bring on the earthquake-causing gods."_

_She grinned, orbing in place. For a second, nothing seemed to be happening, and then the whole house started to shake. A mini hurricane appeared in the middle of the attic, coalescing into a dark-haired woman in a short, white toga. _

_The woman's eyes flashed gold as she stared almost hungrily at her. She threw a potion at the woman, but there was no effect. Phoebe was next, but the woman simply gestured, sending Phoebe flying across the attic-_

The projection ended, throwing the room into silence. Paige looked over at the Elders, seeing stunned expressions on all their faces.

"That was a Titan," Sandra said, faintly, and Paige nodded.

"We faced two of them, and won," she replied. "Barely. Someone is going to release them in a little over a year."

"Who?" Odin asked, brusquely.

"I don't know," Paige told him. "I don't know who, I don't know how – that's why we have to be ready for them."

"And how do you propose that?" a woman asked.

"We defeated the Titans by taking on the power of the gods," Paige said, pitching her voice so that the entire Council could hear her. "When the Titans are released, you need to do it, again."

"That's impossible," the woman blustered, a sentiment that was quickly echoed by several other Elders.

"Okay," Paige said, with a shrug. "Then, get the most powerful magical practitioners you can find and post round the clock guards at the Titan's tomb. Have them be willing to drop everything and devote a year of their lives to nothing but this. And, if we're lucky, they'll be able to defeat whoever is powerful enough to unleash the Titans."

"She has a point," another Elder said, into the silence that followed her statement. "We can't devote that kind of time and energy to a singular purpose that could very well end up failing in the end."

"Did I mention," Paige spoke up, "that they kind of want to kill you all? And they're going to succeed."

"So, you want us to turn the Charmed Ones into gods?" the woman demanded, her eyes blazing with fury.

"If it is the only option left to us," Odin spoke up, his voice silencing everyone else, "we will take it."

From the tone in Odin's voice, the discussion was over. The female Elder glared at him, and then at Paige, but finally she nodded with obvious reluctance. Odin turned to Paige with a satisfied expression on his face. Wordlessly, he nodded toward the projector, and Paige sighed, heavily, stepping toward the device.

_They orbed into the attic, their evil counterparts just a few steps away. Gideon was standing in the middle of the attic, a bloodstained athame gripped in his hands. He hadn't seemed to notice their arrival. _

_Sitting on the floor in front of the Elder was Wyatt, and fury surged through her at the sight of her nephew in danger. She squeezed Phoebe's fingers in a punishing grip, looking toward the piece of paper with their hastily-written spell on it. She met Evil Paige's eyes, seeing her own determination reflected in her counterpart's eyes. _

_Then, four voices rose in unison as they chanted the vanquishing spell._

_"We call upon the ancient lore  
To punish with the Power of Four;  
Strike down this threat from both there and here,  
Make him suffer, then disappear."_

_Gideon screamed in pain, dropping the athame as he orbed out of the attic. She swore softly under her breath as she glared at the spot where the Elder had been standing. _

_"Wyatt, thank God," she heard both Phoebes say, in unison, and then Evil Phoebe picked the boy up, cuddling him to her. _

_"Did you give that bad man Gideon those wounds?" Evil Phoebe cooed, and she exchanged incredulous glances with Leo and Chris at seeing someone so evil act so … gooey. _

_"It looks like Wyatt can handle himself," her counterpart commented, with a grin. _

_"Yeah, but for how long?" Leo asked, a worried tone in his voice. "Gideon is one of the most powerful Elders. If he wants him dead, he'll find a way."_

Paige stepped away from the projector, the room falling into absolute silence. Then, the Council exploded.

The noise in the room reached an almost deafening pitch, and Paige couldn't make head or tails of the incoherent shouting. She looked up, seeing Odin staring at her in disbelief across the projector, and she met his gaze, squarely.

_'I'm not going to apologize for what you saw,'_ she thought, fiercely.

Odin was the first to look away from their impromptu staring contest, taking in the rest of the Council with an upraised eyebrow. Then, to Paige's surprise, he put two fingers in his mouth and let out an ear-piercing whistle.

Paige had to admit, she was impressed by the way the room fell almost immediately into silence. Apparently, Odin didn't hold the top spot on the Council for nothing.

"Would you care to explain?" Odin said, looking back at Paige, "what we just witnessed?"

"What you just saw," Paige said, "was an attempt on my nephew's life by an Elder named Gideon. He tried to kill Wyatt-"

"An Elder would never murder!" someone shouted, furiously, but an upraised hand from Odin had the voice dying down.

"We vanquished Gideon," Paige went on, deliberately omitting the little detail about Leo's involvement. "But not before his obsession led to the death of at least three witches, one of them someone very dear to me."

She paused, feeling the pain of Chris's death all over again, like a blow to the heart.

"And if it happens, again," she added, emphatically, as she looked at the Council, "I will take action."

"You would threaten an Elder?" Sandra demanded, a shocked tone in her voice.

"I would hope," Gideon spoke up from behind Sandra, startling the rest of the Council, "that if I ever harmed a child, that someone would be there to stop me."

"I will," Paige promised, and the Elder nodded, gratefully.

"She's speaking of murder!" someone shouted, angrily, and Gideon let out a humorless laugh.

"And what would you call a violation of every oath we hold dear?" he asked, sardonically. "No, this is a warning, and a chance to change."

"Wyatt is going to be powerful," Paige said, to the rest of the Council, "but, we're his family. You need to trust us. To trust that we can teach him right from wrong, teach him to use his powers for Good."

"The child has not even been conceived, yet," Remus spoke up. "All that we have seen may never even come to pass."

"And if it does?" the pessimist asked, darkly.

"Enough," Odin declared, ending the argument before it could even get started. "If the child proves to be a threat – if he is even born – we will deal with the situation when it arises. We will not borrow trouble."

"We certainly don't need it," Remus added, "not with everything else looming on the horizon."

"Now, if we can move on?" Odin asked, dryly, to the Council at large. Turning his attention to Paige, he added, "Next crisis?"

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

An hour later, Paige slumped down in one of the chairs along the outside of the room. She leaned, heavily, on the table, staring at the projector. The sound of footsteps had her looking up, and she stared incredulously up at Sandra.

"You cannot possibly want me to go up in front of that thing, again," she said, as the Elder sat down beside her. "You've picked me clean. You know everything about the future that I know. Hell, you know stuff that I'd forgotten – and a lot of stuff I wish I'd forgotten."

"You did very well," Sandra told her, smiling. "I could tell that this was very painful for you."

"That thing," Paige said, shaking her head as she stared at the projector, "it doesn't pick and choose; it shows everything, and I can't control what pops up."

"That is kind of the point," Sandra pointed out, reasonably. "It wouldn't be much use to us if anyone could control it."

"Hmm," Paige muttered, noncommittally. "So, can I go home?"

"The Council is still deliberating," Sandra told her, gesturing to where the rest of the Elders were huddled, talking quietly amongst themselves. "The others might still have questions for you."

"What about you?" Paige asked, stretching out and pillowing her head on her arms. "No questions? Nothing that you're absolutely dying to know?"

Sandra hesitated, and there was clearly something on her mind. Paige waited patiently for her to speak.

"I saw in your memories that you and I were close," she finally ventured, and Paige looked over at her, giving her a tired smile.

"It's because of you and Leo that I'm the Whitelighter I am," she told her. "You started out as my mentor, but then, along the way, we became friends."

"It's been a long time since I've been able to call a charge a friend," Sandra replied. "And, as a friend," she added, cautiously, "if you ever want to talk about what happened during your last battle with the Jenkins sisters-"

"I don't," Paige said, shortly, softening her tone when she saw a surprised look flash across Sandra's face. "I'll talk about anything else, just not that. I just can't-"

She broke off when she heard her voice start to rise, breathing deeply to try and regain some semblance of her former calm.

"Have you at least talked about this with Henry?" Sandra asked, quietly, but Paige couldn't snap at her, not when she could hear the worry in the other woman's voice.

"I can't," she repeated, softly. "If I told him – knowing would kill him," she said, pleadingly, silently begging Sandra to understand. "I can't do that to him."

"Henry would-" Sandra started.

"What?" Paige cut her off. "He would understand? He would forgive me? I can't even do that."

Before Sandra could say anything, a shadow fell over the table. Paige lifted her head from her arms to see Gideon standing nearby.

"Am I interrupting anything?" he asked, and she shook her head.

"Nothing," she said, hastily wiping away the wetness she could feel on her cheeks. "What is it?"

"Odin wants to speak with you," Gideon told her. "Some more clarification on your battle with the Jenkins sisters."

"Right," Paige said, pushing herself to her feet.

She followed Sandra and Gideon over to the rest of the Council, skirting the edge of the projector. Something flashed briefly in the circle, but she moved away too quickly to see what it was.

"You have some more questions for me?" Paige asked, and Odin nodded.

"When did you first know that Billie and Christy Jenkins were a threat?" he asked.

"When they ambushed us in our own home," Paige said, wryly. "They attacked us, we fled to the Underworld, and we plotted how to confront them."

"Which involved taking in the Hollow?" Odin asked, his voice neutral.

"We thought that it was our only option," Paige told him. "They were strong, and we were desperate – we couldn't see any other way out." She broke off, scrubbing at her face with her hands, tiredly. "I wish we had," she said, softly. "My sisters died because we couldn't find a better way to stop them."

"What happened to the Jenkins sisters?" Remus prompted, when Paige fell silent.

"Christy survived the initial attack," she replied. "She attacked Henry and me; he shot her. Billie – I don't know, I never saw her body. I assume she died in the attack, like Piper and Phoebe."

She sighed in exhaustion, swaying on her feet. She stumbled across the floor, catching herself before she could fall, and the projector flared to life when she got too close.

_She jerked her head up when she heard the sound of her name in the distance. _

_"I'm going to fix this," she told Piper, tearfully, carefully laying her body on the ruins. "I promise; I'm going to make everything all right, again."_

_It killed her to leave Piper like that, to leave her alone, but she had to check it out. If Phoebe had survived-_

_She stumbled, heavily, over the rough ground, ignoring the pain that shot through her injured wrist when she hit the ground more than once. She reached the area where the foyer had been, and her heart leapt, wildly, when she saw Henry standing in the debris. _

_"Where's Paige?" she could hear him, asking, and she realized that he didn't see her. _

_He was talking to someone, and for a second when she saw the dark hair, she thought it was Phoebe. Then, the woman made a sharp gesture, and Henry yelled when the ground around him suddenly lit on fire. _

_Paige reacted without thinking, grabbing the first thing that came to hand and running toward Christy. She swung the piece of wood, watching numbly as Christy crumpled to the ground from the blow. She tightened her hands on the piece of wood as she stared down at her sisters' murderer._

_"Paige," Henry said, suddenly, and she snapped her head up, staring at her husband in shock._

She stumbled backward, away from the projector, glaring half-heartedly at the magical device.

"I could have lived without the Technicolor and Surround Sound boost," she grumbled, and then she whipped her head around at the sound of a soft sob.

To her shock, Christy Jenkins was standing at the edge of the room, her eyes wide with fear as she stared at the projector. For a second, rage surged up within Paige at the sight of the younger woman, but then she registered the absolute terror reflected on Christy's face.

"Christy?" she said, in shock. "What are you doing here?"


	50. Chapter 50

**Author's Note: **Holy crap, you guys, fifty chapters. When I first started this story, I had a couple of paragraphs and no direction, and now it's at over 100,000 words. And that's thanks to all of you. A million thanks to my amazing beta, **cruelangel101**, without whose help this story would probably not have gotten this far. And to my readers; you guys are amazing.

**Chapter Fifty**

Christy ignored Paige's question, still staring at the empty space where the memory had been projected.

"That was me, wasn't it?" she whispered, a horrified tone in her voice. "I was – I lit that man on fire."

"That wasn't you," Paige said, automatically, in response to the fear in the girl's voice. "Not really. Christy," she repeated, emphatically, as she moved toward where she was standing, "what are you doing here?"

"I brought her here," a new voice spoke up, and Paige looked up to see a young man in Elder's robes standing behind Christy.

She didn't recognize him, but from the stormy expression on Odin's face as he came over, he did.

"What are you doing here, Caenan?" he demanded, and the younger man glared, rebelliously, at him.

"You and the rest of the Council haven't been doing anything about these monsters," he snapped, gesturing at Christy, who whimpered in fear and shrank against Paige, instinctively. "So, some of the others and I decided to take matters into our own hands."

"By terrorizing a young girl?" Paige demanded, incredulously, as she wrapped an arm protectively around Christy's shoulders, supporting her as much as she was holding her in place.

"Didn't she kill your sisters?" Caenan said, scornfully, glancing over at her. "I'd think that you'd want to see her dealt with, too. In fact, I'm surprised that you haven't done anything about her, yourself."

Paige glared at Caenan, fury and confusion warring for dominance within her. She wanted to rage at the young Elder for even suggesting that she would take a life out of revenge, but then she remembered Piper's broken, battered body lying among the ruins of their home. Making things more difficult, whenever she looked at Christy, she didn't see the evil witch who'd destroyed her family, she just saw a terrified young woman.

But, before she could say anything to Caenan, Odin spoke up.

"Be quiet," the Elder said, his voice coming out in a furious growl. "If you say another word, Caenan-"

His voice trailed off, leaving the threat deliberately vague. The younger man gulped, nervously, backing away from Odin's steely glare.

"Go," Odin told him, his voice quiet. "Gather everyone involved in this – this scheme of yours, and wait for us in the meeting space. The Council will deal with you when we are done, here."

Caenan orbed away without a word, and Paige breathed a quiet sigh of relief when he was gone.

"Thank you," she said, quietly to Odin, who nodded. Then, she turned her attention to Christy.

The girl had pulled away from her when Caenan had accused her of killing Piper and Phoebe, but she hadn't been able to go far, surrounded by the members of the Council. She was standing, frozen, in the middle of the loose circle, shrinking into herself every time someone even glanced in her direction. And she absolutely would not look at Paige.

"Christy?" Paige prompted, gently, moving toward the young woman, but stopping when she saw the first flinch. "Christy, talk to me."

"He said that I killed your sisters," Christy whispered, wrapping her arms around her midsection in a protective gesture. There was a hopeless tone in her voice that practically broke Paige's heart.

"It wasn't you," Paige told her, and Christy gave a short bark of laughter.

"It sure looked like me," she said, bitterly. "I lit that man on fire, and I was covered in blood – that man was right; I am a monster."

"You are not a monster," Paige said, insistently. "Look at me, Christy," she said, when the girl glanced away. "Yeah, you've been given a pretty raw deal, being taken from your family, raised by demons. But, you're not there, anymore. And you're going to go back to your family; I promise."

"Really?" Christy asked, hopefully, and Paige nodded.

"The way I see it," she went on, "you have a choice, here. You could do nothing; let others dictate who and what you are. Or, you could decide to take charge of your life; you can make the choice not to be that person. And you can show people like Caenan just where they can shove their attitudes."

"Why don't you hate me?" Christy asked, in a small voice. "For what I – what _she_ – did?"

"There's a part of me that wants to, believe me," Paige admitted, softly. "But, I know you're not the same person as the woman who killed my family. That woman is dead. And you have the chance to make a new life for yourself."

"What if I don't know how?" Christy asked, but the fear in her voice was tinged with hope.

"I'll help you," Paige told her, the last of her indecision fading away. "You have the chance to be a good witch, Christy, to do good things."

"I want to," Christy said, her voice stronger by the second. "I want to be good. You'll really help me?"

"Every step of the way," Paige told her, and then she jumped, slightly, when Christy hugged her, hard.

"Ms. Jenkins," Odin spoke up, and Christy looked over at him, pressing herself against Paige when the Elder moved toward her. "Remus will take you out of here," he went on, gesturing to the other Elder. "And Paige will join you in a few minutes."

"Okay," Christy said, nodding slightly and following Remus.

The Elder orbed the two of them out of the room, leaving Paige alone with the Council.

"So much for binding her powers, huh?" she asked, wryly.

"I never said that was our plan of action," Odin interjected. "Simply that we would consider your suggestion."

"Are you willing to listen to another one?" Paige asked, and Odin raised an eyebrow at her.

"Perhaps," he said, neutrally.

"Give me my wings," Paige told him. "Make me a Whitelighter, again; give me back my charges. Including Billie and Christy," she added, before anyone could say anything. "I'll look out for them, mentor them. I won't make the same mistakes as last time."

"What about your duties as a witch?" Sandra asked.

"Being a Whitelighter didn't interfere with being a Charmed One," Paige pointed out. "I would think that it would be easier, now that I'm just a regular witch."

"Your powers-" someone added, and Paige cut him off.

"My witch powers make it easier to protect my charges," she said, "and my Whitelighter powers are already coming back. I can orb, and sense, and I know how to trigger my healing power. I've done this job, before, and I've done it well."

Odin nodded, waving a hand over her, and Paige watched as her hands glowed for a second before the light sank into her skin.

"Thank you," Paige said. "Now, I think I promised my charge that I would take her home. If you'll excuse me?"

She orbed out of the room, to where she sensed Christy waiting, and the girl practically lit up when she saw Paige.

"I'm going home, now, right?" she asked, and Paige nodded.

"If you're ready," she said, and Christy nodded, enthusiastically. Then, a second later, she seemed to wilt.

"What am I going to say to them?" she asked, nervously, as Paige wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"Just say hello," she suggested, as she orbed them away.

They reformed on the front porch of the Jenkins' house, and Paige was grateful for the late hour, and the darkness that hid their arrival. Reaching out with her free hand, she rang the doorbell, and Christy tucked herself up against her side as the sound echoed through the house.

"What if they don't want me?" she whispered, but before Paige could reply, the front door opened, and Helen Jenkins stood on the other side.

"Can I help you?" she asked, curiously.

"Helen Jenkins, I'm Paige Matthews," Paige said, holding out her hand for the older woman to shake. "I have someone I'd like you to meet."

Helen glanced over at Christy, her curious expression morphing to one of confusion. Christy, for her part, was biting her lip so hard that Paige was surprised she didn't draw blood, and her hands were clenched into fists, her nails biting into her palm.

"Mama?" she finally whispered, and Helen's eyes flew open in shock.

She reached out with a trembling hand, running her fingers lightly over Christy's cheek. There were tears in her eyes, and when she spoke, her voice was quiet and hoarse.

"Christy?" she ventured."Baby, is that you?"

Christy nodded, wordlessly, jerking forward to wrap her arms around her mother in a hard hug. Helen held her daughter, tightly, looking up at Paige. There were a million questions in her eyes.

"Can I come in?" Paige asked. "I'll explain everything."

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The Manor was dark when Paige orbed in, but before the light faded, she saw Henry sitting on the couch. She made her way across the dark living room to sink down beside him on the cushions, feeling him wrap his arms around her.

"Welcome home," he said, sleepily, as she leaned back against his chest, twining her fingers through his.

"Did I wake you up?" Paige asked, quietly.

"I was just dozing," Henry replied, with a yawn. "Did you get everything taken care of?"

"I warned the Elders about everything that I could," she told him. "The Titans, the Avatars, Zankou – maybe this time, we can avoid all the bad stuff."

"With any luck," Henry agreed with her.

"And I got Christy home, safely, so-" Paige began, and she could feel Henry perk up.

"Christy?" he echoed, incredulously. "Did I miss something? Weren't the Elders going to bind her and Billie's powers."

"Yeah, not so much," Paige told him, sighing. "But, I think we can still make things different. For one thing, we've got Christy, and not the demons, this time around."

"But, she's been with them for nearly ten years, right?" Henry pointed out, reasonably.

"It's a little more complicated than that," Paige replied. "Apparently, even though the Triad was responsible for kidnapping Christy, they weren't the ones who had her for all these years."

"What do you mean?" Henry asked, sounding confused.

"They passed her off to a group of lower-level demons to raise, probably because they didn't want to be burdened with her. Only, the demons were vanquished, and the stronger demons who took them out took Christy as a kind of prize."

"That's sick," Henry declared, shaking his head in disgust.

"Oh, it gets worse," Paige told him, her voice grim. "Christy told me that she was owned, in a manner of speaking, by at least three other groups of demons over the years. Then, about a year ago, the Triad stepped in and "rescued" her from her demonic captors."

"And if they treated her well," Henry spoke up, echoing her thought process, "especially if the other demons had been cruel to her, then she would come to trust them, implicitly."

"I think that's exactly what they had planned," Paige said. "They'd swoop in, give Christy a better life than the one she'd had, before, and eventually they would have a loyal servant and a clear path to the Ultimate Power."

"So, what went wrong?" Henry asked.

"Cole, for one," Paige said, stifling a yawn behind her hand. "The Triad wasn't expecting him to go rogue, and they certainly didn't anticipate him vanquishing them – or, their physical bodies, at least," she amended. "And, without the Triad, Christy slipped away. She'd been living rough in the Underworld for the last several months before Andy found her down there."

"She's lucky to have survived that long," Henry commented, and Paige nodded.

"She's with her family, right now," she replied. "They were overjoyed to have her home, and I think she's going to be okay. I'll be watching out for her and Billie."

"What about demons?" Henry asked. "I can't imagine that they're going to leave them alone."

"No, but Christy knows that she can call me if she needs me, and I'll be there in an instant," Paige reminded him. "I think she's going to be okay," she added, with a small smile.

"What about you?" Henry asked, nudging her when she fell silent. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Paige decided, after thinking about it. "Yeah, I really think I am. Things are different than I expected, but it's a good different, you know? Piper's more relaxed, and she's not so tense all the time, and Phoebe – when she's not being overly hostile – is more open and happy than she's been in a while. And Prue – Prue is-"

"Prue is intense and a little scary," Henry finished for her, when she trailed off. "She's a lot like you, actually."

"Trying to tell me something?" Paige asked, teasingly.

"Just that you two will probably get along really well," Henry commented. "Hey," he added, "Phoebe said something about the Source wanting to get a child – a boy. Tyler?"

"I don't know," Paige admitted, squeezing his fingers in response to the worried tone in his voice. "It could be Tyler; it could be Wyatt, maybe even Chris. I don't know; I didn't hear enough."

"What are we going to do?" Henry asked.

"We'll vanquish them before they ever get their hands on anyone in this family," Paige told him. "Don't worry; I'm working on a plan to vanquish the Source. I'm going to fill my sisters in on the plan in the morning."

"After we get some sleep," Henry told her. "Here," he added, tightening his hold on her waist when she tried to get up. "I'm too tired to go upstairs, and we should let Tyler have the room to himself for one night."

"We need to add apartment hunting to the to-do list, tomorrow," Paige said, yawning, again. "I love my sisters, but we can't keep cramming three of us into one small room."

A light snore was her only answer, and she smiled, fondly, as she rested her head on Henry's chest. She closed her eyes, and was asleep within seconds.


	51. Chapter 51

**Author's Notes: **As always, thanks a million to my amazing beta-reader, **cruelangel101**. And, of course, thanks to my readers and reviewers. You guys are awesome.

For those who requested fics, the first completed request is now posted; it's the first chapter of a series called "Moments". The rest of the requests fics are soon to follow.

And, to clear up some confusion I've been getting over where the story is in canon, this chapter begins the rewrite of "A Knight to Remember".

**Chapter Fifty-One**

Veda was afraid. No, she was terrified.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when an owl hooted from a branch high over her head. At the sound, she instinctively glanced behind her, and she stumbled over a tree root that she didn't see in her path. She staggered forward, barely able to stay on her feet, but her long skirt caught on a protruding branch, ripping when she tried to tug it free.

_'This is my favorite skirt,'_ she thought, regretfully, but she couldn't afford to let sentimentality stop her. Not with her life on the line.

She grabbed the ripped edges of the skirt, tearing it further until she'd torn a large portion off the bottom, leaving only a small portion around her legs. Gathering up the material into a wadded ball in her hands, she concentrated until the cloth lit on fire, holding the flames until only a soft, gray ash fell through her fingers.

Then, she started running, again.

The trees seemed to close around her as she ran through the woods, branches reaching out to snag her hair and clothes, thorny vines wrapping around her legs to dig painful gashes into her skin. It was like the forest, itself, had turned against her.

_'Something must have happened to Rowan,'_ she thought, desperately, batting away a grasping branch with her hands. _'Queen Julia's pet magician could never have gained control over the land like this, otherwise.'_

At a crashing noise from behind her, Veda picked up her pace, forcing herself to run faster. The muscles in her legs were screaming with pain but she ignored it, pushing on. She could see light in the distance, marking the edge of the forest – and the far boundary of the kingdom – and she felt her heart leap with wild hope.

_'Almost free,'_ she thought, her eyes fixed on the light. _'If I can just get out of the forest-'_

Then, something snapped out, hitting her legs and sending her crashing to the ground. A sharp pain shot through her skull as she slammed into the dirt, and the world went black.

** XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Veda regained consciousness, slowly, feeling groggy and tired. For a second, she couldn't remember where she was, or what had happened, but then she heard the low rumble of men's voices, nearby, and the memories of her desperate flight slowly trickled back in.

"-lighter than she looks," a gruff voice was saying, and Veda strained to place the familiar voice to a face.

She tried to open her eyes, feeling something heavy against her face, and she realized that it was a rough cloth. The cloth scratched against her face as she moved, and she realized that a heavy sack had been shoved over her head. She tried to sit up, but she couldn't move very easily, and when she tried to move her arms, she could feel the bite of rope around her wrists.

_'Trussed up like a hog to the slaughter,'_ she thought, angrily, as she strained, fruitlessly, against the ropes.

Without even thinking about it, she focused, summoning fire into her hands, to burn the ropes away. A second later, a blinding pain shot through her entire body and she struggled to draw even the tiniest breath. The pain only stopped when she stopped trying to reach for her magic, and she slumped, weakly, against whatever she was lying on, her breath coming out in short pants.

Her captors had put a binding collar around her neck. The collars had been created by Gorey, Queen Julia's pet magician, and they were supposedly his pride and joy. The collars blocked all magic, crippling the one wearing it with incapacitating pain.

Veda had heard horror stories about people forced to wear the collars, heard about the horrible ways a person could die while wearing it, but she'd never expected to ever even see one, herself.

And, now, she was helpless in its grasp.

When the disorientation from the collar finally passed, she realized that the ground underneath her was swaying, alarmingly. As her mind cleared, further, she realized that she wasn't lying on the ground, at all. Instead, she'd been thrown over the back of a horse, and she could feel the animal's sides moving with each breath it took.

She began struggling, again, trying to throw herself off the back of the slow-moving animal. She didn't know what she was going to do once she was on the ground, or how she planned to escape her captors, again, but she knew that she couldn't stay on the horse for one more second.

Unfortunately, one of the men noticed her struggles, and she found herself easily restrained with a large hand firmly in the center of her back.

"Don't even think about it, girlie," the man told her, brusquely. "If you don't settle down, I'll break both your legs."

Veda immediately stopped moving, cold fear running through her at the man's words. The man had a warning hand placed on the back of her neck, and he squeezed when she tried to move, again, his grip punishingly painful.

"I wasn't lying, witch," he growled, his tone dark and menacing. "Her Majesty wants you to burn on the pyre, but if you give me any more trouble, I'll snap your neck."

Veda obligingly went limp, and the man's hand disappeared after a few seconds. The horse continued to plod slowly through the woods, the trek to her inevitable death unbearably long. Even though she couldn't see through the rough cloth that covered her head, she knew when they'd left the woods because she could hear the sound of the horse's hooves change to a more defined sound as they reached the tightly-packed dirt that marked the main road into the village.

_'Going to burn me in the square?'_ Veda thought, despair washing over her as she realized that she didn't have much time left. _'Rowan, where are you? I need you.'_

But her mental plea went unanswered. Rowan – her protector, her friend, her adoptive father – was not going to be coming to her rescue.

The horse was moving faster, now that there was no rough undergrowth to trip it up, and Veda could feel her heartbeat ratchet up in response. She could see the pyre in her mind's eye, could just imagine the tall stack of wood waiting for her, and the flames that would lick, hungrily, at her legs.

She broke out in a cold sweat, letting out a small whimper of fear. She received a heavy, painful thump on the back for her troubles, and the blow knocked the breath from her lungs, making her cough desperately for air.

A few seconds later, the horse stopped, suddenly, jolting her up against its bare neck. She'd barely had time to steady herself on the horse's back when a pair of hands grabbed her, pulling her off the horse and setting her down on the ground. Her legs buckled underneath her at the unexpected impact, and she clung to her captor to keep from falling to the ground.

The cloth sack was ripped away from her head, her captor yanking a hank of hair out along with it, and Veda winced in pain, resisting the urge to cry out. She blinked in the harsh sunlight, looking around to see most of the village gathered in a loose circle around the square, looking from her to the pyre positioned in the middle of the square.

_'How nice,'_ Veda thought, disgustedly, as she looked around at the people she'd grown up with, her friends and neighbors. Some looked away, not meeting her gaze. Others were staring at the pyre with a kind of sick excitement on their faces. _'They've all come to watch me burn.'_

When a heavy hand shoved her forward, making her stumble across the ground, she twisted around and got her first look at her captors. The man directly behind her was wearing the uniform of the Palace Guard, trimmed out in dark blue and gold, and he had a dark scowl on his face. If she had to guess, Veda would have pegged him as the one who'd threatened to break her legs.

But, the men standing behind the guard surprised her. Two of the men were just farmers, a pair of brothers who'd mostly kept to themselves over the years, contributing to the village but asking little in return.

And the third man was Isaiah, a big bear of a man who was the village's bonesetter. He was surprisingly gentle given his enormous stature, and he'd trained in his craft with Rowan. He was married to pretty, red-haired Bridgette, and they had three little girls, one around Veda's age, and she'd always thought of the man as kind of an uncle.

So, she couldn't understand what he was doing here, now.

"Isaiah?" she asked, confused, watching as the man's eyes skittered nervously away from her. "Isaiah, what is this?"

"I don't have a choice, Veda," Isaiah said, gruffly, and she recognized his voice as the one that had commented on her weight.

"Isaiah, please," Veda pleaded, frantically. "You know me; Siobhan is one of my closest friends."

"And that's why I have to do this," Isaiah said, his voice mournful. "Queen Julia made it clear that it was either you or my girls. I'm sorry," he added, regret clear in his voice.

_'It's okay; I understand,'_ Veda wanted to tell him, to ease the tortured look she could see on his face. Except that it wasn't, and she couldn't.

The guard gave her another shove, propelling her closer to the pyre. Veda stumbled over the rough ground for a few feet, but then, stubbornly, she dug in her heels and refused to move. Undaunted, the guard simply picked her up and bodily hauled her over to the pyre, practically throwing her onto the pile of wood.

Veda struggled to her feet, but before she could move, the guard had grabbed her and forced her back against the central pole, restraining her with rough, heavy ropes. Veda lunged fruitlessly against the ropes holding her in place, hoping to find some slack, or a weak point, but the guard had done his job, well, and she could barely move.

Straightening up, she glared defiantly at the guard. The guard ignored her in favor of stacking cordwood around the base of the pyre, arranging the pieces up the pyre around her legs. Veda tried to kick out at him, but the ropes around her legs were too strong.

Suddenly, the crowd around the pyre parted, and from over the guard's shoulder, Veda could see a figure on a tall, gray horse moving slowly toward the square. She couldn't see who the person on the horse was, but she could hear the clear, crystalline sound of bells coming from the horse's tack.

There were very few people in the kingdom who would even consider adorning their tack in such a way, and only one who would come to see her burn.

_'Queen Julia,'_ Veda thought, resigned, even as the guard turned away from the pyre and swept into a low bow.

As the guard moved aside, Veda got a good look at the woman who'd condemned her to death. Queen Julia's long blonde hair was swept back off her face, revealing features that Veda had heard referred to as exquisite and delicate. She was wearing a dark blue velvet gown that had to have cost enough to seed the village's fields three times over. And a necklace with a familiar blue stone rested in the hollow of her throat.

_'That belongs to my mother,'_ Veda thought, furiously, anger rising in her at the thought of Julia taking her mother's things. _'Bad enough that you had to banish her from the kingdom, and then you sent your hunting dogs to track her down and kill her. But, to steal from the dead-'_

As if she'd heard Veda's thoughts, Julia turned to look at her, her cold eyes pinning her in place. A slow, cruel smile curved across her face, and she looked at the pyre with something like approval in her eyes.

"Finally, the last of your wretched kind will burn," she said, softly, as she urged her horse closer to the pyre.

"Are you proud of yourself?" Veda taunted her, watching anger spark in Julia's eyes. "Killing people who've never done anything to harm you?"

"Your mother tried to destroy this kingdom," Julia snapped, her patience clearly wearing thin. "Her magic – _your_ magic – is nothing more than a blight on this land, a disease that must be wiped out."

"My mother may have been evil," Veda said, slowly, "but my father taught me to use my magic responsibly, to use it to help people."

"It doesn't matter what you've been taught," Julia said, airily. "You'll be corrupted in the end. All of your kind are."

"My father's magic has never corrupted him," Veda argued, hotly.

"Rowan is not going to be a problem for much longer," Julia said, a strange smile on her face, and a jolt of cold fear ran through Veda.

"What did you do?" she demanded. "Please," she pleaded, desperately, when Julia turned away, "please don't hurt him."

"Don't worry," Julia called back to her, "you'll be with him, soon."

She moved back to the edge of the crowd, turning her horse until she was facing the pyre, again. She lifted a hand, and Veda expected her to order the wood to be lit. Instead, she gestured to someone standing at the far edge of the crowd, and the villagers parted to let someone through.

Another horse moved up next to Julia's, and Veda recognized the rider instantly. Prince Richard, the only son of Julia and the late King Richard, the heir to the kingdom – and her half-brother.

Richard looked uncomfortable as he rode up next to his mother, shifting uneasily in his saddle and avoiding looking at her. But, a sharp word from Julia had him straightening up, his spine stiff as he stared straight ahead. He met her gaze for a heartbeat, and the expression on his face was one of pure misery.

_'This is your mother's fault; not yours,'_ Veda wanted to tell him. _'She's the one with the vendetta against witches, and against the Enchantress.'_

Julia lifted her hand, again, drawing everyone's attention, especially Veda's. Then she let her hand fall, and Veda watched in horror as the guard dropped the flaming torch in his hand to let it drop onto the pyre.

The wood, treated with pitch, caught fire very quickly. And the flames were creeping just as quickly up the wood that was piled around her legs.

The heat hit her first, a crawling sensation over her legs that quickly turned into discomfort, and then outright pain. The wood generated a lot of smoke, and she choked when the thick gray smoke hit her lungs.

Then, the flames finally touched her skin.

The pain was unbearable, and she cried out when the first tongues of fire hit her legs. She shrank back against the pole, trying to get away, but there was no way to escape.

"Please!" she cried out, not caring how desperate she sounded. "Please, don't let me die!"

Richard jerked in his saddle like she'd just slapped him, his face bone-white and his hands trembling with fear. She thought that she could see tears in his eyes, and he turned to Julia, his mouth moving soundlessly as he spoke, although she couldn't hear him over the roar of the fire.

Julia shook her head, abruptly, and Richard turned back to her with an apologetic look on his face. Veda let her eyes fall closed, her head falling back against the pole in despair.

_'Rowan,'_ she pleaded, silently, tears coursing down her face, _'Rowan, where are you?'_

The pain was getting worse, although she wouldn't have thought that it was possible. She could barely breathe, barely think, she was consumed with agony.

Which was why she decided that she had nothing left to lose. She reached for the magic pooled deep within her, gathering her strength for one, solid strike. She could faintly feel the collar around her neck tightening in response, but the pain from the collar was nothing compared to the flames.

She took a deep breath, ignoring the heat that seared her lungs, and then she let her magic loose. She could feel the power bursting from her in a wave, and for one wild moment, she thought that it might work.

Then, she almost cried when she felt the power dying out.

"No!" she screamed, choking on the smoke that filled her nose and mouth.

But, to her further amazement, she could feel something reaching out, bolstering her magic. And, through the smoke, she thought she saw Richard's mouth moving, soundlessly, a determined expression fixed on his face.

Taking a chance, Veda threw herself into the magic. She didn't even know if what she wanted to do was possible, if she had the strength to harness magic without the confines of a spell. But, she was dead if she didn't try.

"Rowan," she gritted out, focusing every fiber of her will on her father. "Rowan, I need you."

The pain had spread throughout her entire body, now, and the pole behind her had caught fire. She tried, in one final effort, to struggle against the flames, but then she gave up and just screamed in agony.

"ROWAN!"


	52. Chapter 52

**Author's Note: **Thanks a million to my amazing beta, **cruelangel101**. And, thanks to my awesome readers and reviewers.

**Chapter Fifty-Two**

Piper came down the stairs, headed for the kitchen, but she stopped when she passed the living room. Backtracking, she poked her head inside, raising an eyebrow when she saw four feet sticking out from the end of the couch.

_'So, either we were attacked by a four-footed demon,'_ she thought, wryly, _'or a couple of people are very uncomfortable, right now.'_

Looking over the back of the couch, she had to bite back a smile when she saw Paige and Henry curled in each other's arms, fast asleep. She was tempted to just let them stay that way, especially since they both looked exhausted, but then Tyler came running down the stairs, sounding like a herd of elephants, and Paige jerked awake, staring around wildly before her eyes settled on Henry.

"Hey," she mumbled, poking at him, "we're late."

"Mmph," Henry mumbled, unintelligibly, and then they disappeared in a swirl of orbs headed toward the ceiling.

Shaking her head in exasperation, Piper continued toward the kitchen. Tyler was rummaging around in the refrigerator, and he emerged with the jug of milk in his hands, shutting the door behind him.

"You are planning on using a cup, right?" she prompted, pointedly, when he started to unscrew the cap.

Tyler blushed, going over to the cupboard and grabbing a cup. He poured himself a cup and put the milk back in the fridge.

"Did the Elders keep my mom Up There all night?" he asked, looking over at her. "She and Dad never came back upstairs, last night."

"They fell asleep on the couch," Piper assured him, and a look of relief flashed across the boy's face. "They went upstairs to get ready."

Tyler nodded, curling his hands around his cup and staring down at the liquid inside. Piper frowned at the intensely serious look on the boy's face.

"What are you doing?" she asked, and Tyler shrugged, half-heartedly, looking up at her.

"I was trying to heat it up," he told her.

"With your mind?" Piper asked, and Tyler nodded.

"Since I can light things on fire, I thought maybe that I could do other stuff, too," he replied. "I've been kind of messing around with my powers, seeing what I could do, and I thought that maybe I could make the milk heat up."

"You've been messing around with your powers?" Piper repeated, incredulously, and Tyler shrugged, again. "Without supervision?" she demanded, and Tyler blushed.

"Just a little bit," he muttered, sheepishly, and Piper sighed.

"Your mother is going to kill us both," she informed him, abruptly.

"What'd you do?" Tyler asked, confused.

"I'm the one who suggested you look at the Book in the first place," Piper reminded him. "In the future," she went on, "if you want to practice your powers, come get one of us, first, okay?"

"Got it," Tyler said, and Piper grinned at him.

"So, go ahead," she said, nodding at the cup he was still holding in his hands. "Let's see if your practice is paying off."

Tyler looked back down at the cup, a frown line appearing in the middle of his forehead as he stared at the milk. For a few seconds, nothing seemed to be happening, and she could practically see his shoulders slump with disappointment. He scowled down at the milk, and before Piper could do anything, the milk suddenly started boiling.

Hot liquid began sloshing over the sides of the cup as the milk boiled even harder. Piper snapped her hands out, freezing the milk in midair before it could fall on the floor, and Tyler carefully uncurled his hands from around the cup, looking at it curiously as it hung frozen in the air.

"Wow, that's cool," he said, admiringly, and Piper nodded.

"Yeah, sometimes my power is pretty fun," she told him. "And, I guess this answers Paige's question about whether or not you're a witch."

"Who's a witch?" Prue asked, as she came into the kitchen, looking curiously at the frozen cup.

"Tyler is," Piper answered. "The cup froze, and he didn't. Speaking of," she added, gesturing to the cup, "do you want to help me out, here?"

Prue gestured, sending the cup moving across the kitchen to land gently in the sink. As soon as the cup touched the porcelain, the milk unfroze, spilling over into the drain.

"So, what's going on, here?" Prue asked, as she headed for the coffeepot.

"Just some early morning power practice," Piper told her. "Are you going into work, this morning?"

"Not until later," Prue started, but then she trailed off, looking at something over Piper's shoulder.

Turning, Piper watched as Phoebe entered the kitchen, followed by a pair of Elders in white and gold robes. One of the Elders was Sandra, and the other was a man with graying hair. All three of them had serious looks on their faces, and Phoebe looked pale. She moved straight to the coffeepot and poured herself a cup without even looking at her sisters, and Piper wondered if she even saw them standing there.

"Pheebs?" she prompted, gently, and her younger sister snapped her head up to stare at them with a startled expression in her eyes.

"Piper," she said, and Piper started to get worried at the shaky tone in her voice. "Prue. I'm glad you're both here. I – I wanted to talk to both of you."

"What's wrong?" Prue asked, and Phoebe jerked her shoulder in a shrug.

"Where do I start?" she asked, and Sandra reached out with a comforting hand on the younger woman's shoulder.

"We came to Phoebe with some disturbing news, this morning," she started, but Prue cut her off.

"Who's we?"she demanded, suspiciously, looking at the man.

"My name is Remus," the Elder introduced himself. "Like your sister, my power involves seeing the future."

"They, um, they showed me what they saw," Phoebe said, quietly, and Piper was sure she saw a shudder run through Phoebe's body. "It, um-"

"It what?" Prue prompted, when Phoebe fell silent.

"What did you see?" Piper asked, insistently, worried by the haunted look on Phoebe's face, as well as the grim expression on both Elders' faces.

"Nothing good," Phoebe said, quietly, shuddering. "It was-" She stopped, clearly overcome, but forced herself to continue, anyway. "It was bad," she said, emphatically. "Really bad. And I – if not having my powers prevents the future that I saw, then that's what I'll do," she finished, her words coming out in a rush.

"Wait a minute," Prue said, holding up a hand to stop her. "Back up. What do you mean, not having your powers?"

"What we saw will not come to pass if Phoebe relinquishes her status as a Charmed One," Sandra spoke up, answering her question while still remaining irritatingly cryptic on the actual issue.

"I want to temporarily give my powers to Paige," Phoebe said, also not clarifying things. "Have her take my place in the Power of Three. It should work; it's what happened the first time around when Prue died."

"Not to mention, we cannot continue to let a demon run around with a Charmed One's powers," Remus interjected, solemnly. "Not matter what he claims his allegiance to be."

"Which is on the side of good," Phoebe said, almost testily, sounding like she was repeating herself.

"Regardless," Sandra said, smoothly, "it is a situation that cannot continue. Not when there are other options available to us."

"But, whatever it is that you saw," Prue argued, "won't it just happen with Paige, too, once she has Phoebe's powers?"

"I have foreseen nothing happening with Paige," Remus said, just as the sister in question walked into the kitchen.

She had her cell phone trapped between her ear and her shoulder as she walked, and she headed straight for the coffeepot. She gave Tyler a one-armed hug as she reached for a cup.

"-Cree is going after Shuvanis," she was saying, to the person on the other end of the phone, as she poured herself a cup of coffee. "You need to warn your clans, and you, especially, need to be really careful-"

She turned around, and then she froze when she saw everyone else, her voice trailing off, slowly.

"Lydia, I've got to go," she said, eyeing both Elders with something that looked like suspicion. "Call me if you need any help with Orrin or Cree."

She listened to the other woman's reply, a smile on her face.

"You, too," she said, warmly. "_La revedere_, Lydia."

Clicking off the phone, she shot Sandra and Remus a pointed look.

"I take it you're not here about last night's meeting with the Council?" she asked, dryly.

"They're here to give you Phoebe's powers," Piper told her, and Paige's eyebrows flew up in surprise.

"Wait, what?" she spluttered. "When did this even become an option?"

She glared furiously at the Elders as if it was their fault. Which, Piper supposed, it was, in a way.

"We have seen a darkness on the horizon-" Remus began, but Paige cut him off with an upraised hand.

"Cut the crap," she snapped, shortly. "I've had more than enough of you people and your 'darkness on the horizon' and your 'battles that we won't see coming'. Just, for once, will you please be straight with us?"

Silence filled the kitchen after her explosive statement, and then Phoebe sighed, heavily.

"They saw a future where I was possessed by the Source," she said, with obvious reluctance. "And he used my powers, and my connection to the Power of Three, to turn you guys evil and destroy our family."

They all stared at Phoebe in shock, and Paige was the first to speak.

"Like hell," she said, flatly, and Piper and Prue echoed her sentiment. "Why didn't you tell us any of this, sooner?" she demanded, whirling on Sandra, furiously.

"We didn't know," Sandra told her, an apologetic note in her voice. "We knew that something bad had the potential to happen – that's why we blocked all of your attempts to transfer Phoebe's powers back to her – but we didn't know anything specific until now."

"That's why I want you to take my powers, and my place in the Power of Three for a while," Phoebe told her. "That way, if the Source does get me-"

"Stop right there," Paige said, her voice tight with tension. "Don't even think about that. The Source isn't going to get his hands on you; I swear."

"But, if he does," Phoebe repeated, insistently, "he won't be able to use me to get to the three of you."

"Are you sure this is what you want?" Paige asked her, softly. "Pheebs, you love being a witch."

"But, I love my family, more," Phoebe countered. "Besides," she added, a strained tone in her voice, "I was without my powers for twenty years; a few months should be nothing, right?"

"It's settled, then," Remus broke in, briskly. "Now, in order for the transfer of power to be complete, we need the demon, here. Where is Balthazar?"

"Cole isn't here," Phoebe said, putting an emphasis on her boyfriend's name. "He's down in the Underworld."

"Oh, really?" Remus said, dryly, suspicion heavy in his voice.

"He's following up on what he heard down in the Underworld last night," Paige broke in. "He's gathering information for us about the Source's plans."

"And when does he plan on returning?" Remus asked, testily.

"When he can," Phoebe said. "It's not like there's a timeline for this kind of thing."

"You'll call us when he returns?" Sandra spoke up, before her fellow Elder could say anything. "We need to transfer Phoebe's powers out of her as soon as possible, before anything happens."

"We'll call," Paige confirmed, and then her face lit up when Henry came into the kitchen. "Hey, honey."

"Hey," Henry began, smiling at her.

Then, the rest of his words were cut off when he was surrounded by a cloud of bright, white lights. When the lights cleared, the space where Henry had been standing was empty. Paige stared at the spot in disbelief, turning to her sisters with an incredulous expression on her face.

"What the hell just happened?" she demanded.


	53. Chapter 53

**Author's Note: **Thanks a million to my amazing beta, **cruelangel101**. And, thanks to my awesome readers and reviewers.

**Chapter Fifty-Three**

"What the hell was that?" Paige demanded, whirling on the Elders as if they could give her the answer.

"I don't know," Sandra said, sounding just about as shocked as Paige. "We didn't do that."

"Well, then who did?" Paige snapped, furiously.

Before either Elder could say anything, a jingle filled the air. Paige automatically glanced toward the ceiling, as did Sandra and Remus, listening to the summons from Up There.

"Paige," Sandra began, an apologetic tone in her voice, and Paige nodded in resigned understanding.

"There's nothing to do that we can't do for ourselves," she said, with a sigh.

"Well, not nothing," Remus told her.

Reaching out, he took her left hand, his fingers brushing lightly over her wedding ring. He closed his eyes, momentarily, in concentration.

"I can't tell you where your husband is," he said, opening his eyes, "but I can tell you that he will be all right."

"Care to give me any details on that statement?" Paige asked, tugging her hand free of Remus's grip.

"Trust who you are, and who you used to be," Remus said, with a tiny smile, and then he and Sandra orbed away without another word.

"The cryptic crap must come with the robes," Paige grumbled, as she leaned back against the kitchen counter.

She wrapped an arm around Tyler's shoulders when he moved up beside her, squeezing gently. She tried to tamp down on the surge of guilt that was running through her, knowing that it was completely useless.

"You okay?" Prue asked, sympathetically, and Paige jerked her shoulder in a shrug.

"I just – I hate this, you know?" she asked, rhetorically. "Henry's mortal; he doesn't have any enemies in the Underworld. He's supposed to be safe from this kind of stuff."

"You don't know that this is demonic," Piper protested, and Paige shot her a humorless smile.

"We don't know that it's not," she replied. "All I know is that my husband is missing, and the only reassurance I have is that he's going to be okay at some nebulous point in the future."

She broke off when she glanced at the clock over the sink, her eyes widening when she realized what time it was. Reaching out, she snagged the cordless phone off its charger, dialing the number of the police station. Then, while she listened to the phone ring, she glamoured into Henry.

"Hey," she said, coughing, when the desk sergeant answered the phone. "It's Mitchell. Can't come into work today; caught a bug or something."

She added a few more coughing fits, hoping that her – or rather, Henry's – voice sounded appropriately haggard. It must have worked, because the sergeant told her to get well, soon, promising to log in her sick day request. When she hung up the phone, she found her family looking at her, curiously.

"Just because Henry's missing," she told them, dropping the glamour, "doesn't mean that his job has to be in jeopardy."

"That's a handy power to have around," Prue commented, and Paige smiled, tightly.

"It has its uses," she replied. "Now, finding Henry-"

"We'll do it," Piper spoke up, interrupting her. Paige looked at her in surprise, silently asking for an explanation, and Piper continued, "You can't afford to jeopardize your job, either. You need to go to work, and Prue, Phoebe, and I will find Henry. And we'll call you as soon as we know anything."

Paige bit back her automatic response about how it was her family, and her responsibility, taking a moment to cool down and consider Piper's words. Henry wasn't just hers, any more – she knew how protective her sisters could be, knew that they'd go to the ends of the earth for anyone they considered family.

She just had to trust her sisters enough to let them take care of her family.

_'There's nothing that I can do, that the Power of Three can't do better,'_ she thought, unconsciously echoing her earlier words to Sandra and Remus. _'I just have to have faith that they'll find him.'_

Sighing, Paige nodded in silent agreement. Then, she slipped her wedding ring off her finger, handing it to Piper.

"What's this?" her sister asked, a confused look on her face.

"That's the ring that Henry and I bought when we got married the first time," she said, quietly. "Henry's is the same, too. Sandra saved them for us after we came back in time, and it's my touchstone to Henry. If there's anything that'll help you find him, that's it."

"We'll find him," Piper reassured her, as she curled her fingers protectively around the gold band. "I promise."

"I know," Paige said, smiling at the three of them. "I trust you." Looking over at Tyler, she added, "Come on, kiddo. Let's get going."

Leaving the kitchen, they headed toward the front door. Tyler snagged his backpack from where it was sitting beside the front door, and they went out to where her car was parked on the side of the street. She waved distractedly to Mrs. Noble across the street, who was working in her garden, and climbed into her car.

Then, she just sat behind the steering wheel, staring out of the windshield.

"Mom, you okay?" Tyler asked, worriedly, and she nodded.

"I'm fine, sweetie," she said, trying to be reassuring. But, she was afraid that she hadn't quite succeeded.

"Dad's going to be fine," Tyler told her, but she caught a tremor in behind his confident words, and she reached out and squeezed his hand.

"He's going to be fine," she echoed, trying to infuse a sense of confidence into her own voice.

But, she couldn't help the flicker of doubt that ran through her, couldn't stop seeing everything bad that might happen.

_'Please, Henry,'_ she prayed, anxiously. _'Please come home to us, safely.'_

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Henry blinked in confusion, looking around him as the white lights faded from his vision. One second, he'd been walking into the kitchen, and the next –

_'Where the hell am I?'_ he thought, as he stared around at the trees that surrounded him and the dirt road he was standing on.

Then, his head snapped around at the sound of shouting in the distance. He started running toward the sound, not even slowing when he saw the crowd of people ahead of him. Because now he was close enough to hear what they were shouting.

"Burn the witch! Burn the witch!"

Henry shouldered his way through the crowd, ignoring the indignant mutters in his wake. He shoved people out of his way, moving through the edge of the crowd, and then he jerked to a stop, staring in horror at the burning pyre in the middle of the circle.

Through the flames, he could see the faint outline of a person, and before he even knew he was going to act, he was running toward the pile of flaming wood.

He jumped, hitting the center pole of the pyre and knocking it to the ground. The victim – a young girl – moaned in pain when she struck the hard ground, and his heart gave a wild leap when he realized that she was still alive.

Scrambling to his feet, he gathered the girl into his arms, ignoring her weak cry of pain. Then, he pushed his way through the crowd, again, knocking down anyone who got in his way. Once free of the crowd, he bolted for the tree line.

He could hear angry voices coming from behind him, and when he risked a glance behind him, he saw a group of angry-looking men with swords chasing after him. Swearing softly under his breath, Henry picked up his speed.

When he heard a crashing sound from behind him, he glanced back to see his pursuers lying in a tangled heap on the ground. Their swords were lying on the ground a few feet away, and a short distance behind the furious men was a strange boy on horseback, his hand outstretched toward the men.

_'Thanks, kid,'_ Henry thought, as he kept running.

He managed to make it to the tree line unscathed, breathing a quick sigh of relief. But, he didn't stop running, hoping that distance and the thick trees would help him lose anyone else who might be chasing him.

When he went several minutes without hearing anyone behind him, he started to slow down, and when he reached a small clearing in the middle of the forest, he lay the girl down on the ground as gently as he could.

"I'm sorry," he murmured, quietly, his heart clenching when she moaned in pain.

He propped the girl against his chest, figuring that his clothes were marginally better for her burned skin than the filthy ground. Then, he tipped his head back, staring at the sky.

"Odin!" he bellowed. "Sandra!"

He didn't know if either Elder was even alive in this time, or if they had their powers, but he didn't know who else to call on. After all, it wasn't like he could call for Leo or Andy. And Paige was definitely out of the question.

"Anyone!" he yelled, praying desperately that someone Up There was listening. "I need a Whitelighter, please! She's going to die!"

But, there was no answer to his summons, and his heart sank.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered, again, to the girl, and then the world disappeared in front of his eyes in a flash of blinding white light.

When his vision cleared and he could see again, he found himself sitting in the middle of the attic. He stared in momentary shock at Prue, Piper, and Phoebe, who were standing around a smoking cauldron, Piper dangling a metal chain with a ring on it over the cauldron. Then, he followed their horrified gazes down to the badly burned girl in his arms.

There was a moment of absolute silence, and then four voices bellowed in unison, "Leo!"


	54. Chapter 54

**Author's Note: **Major thanks, as always, to my awesome beta reader, **cruelangel101.** And, thanks so much to my readers and reviewers; you guys are amazing. And, for those interested, the second request fic has been posted to _Moments_.

**Chapter Fifty-Four**

Henry paced the length of the attic, glancing anxiously over at Leo as he worked. Leo had orbed into the attic just seconds after they'd yelled, and he'd immediately started healing the girl. He'd been at it for almost ten minutes, now, with the extent of her massive burns making things difficult.

He resisted the urge to demand what was taking so long, reaching up and absently playing with Paige's wedding ring. Piper had given it to him, and he was wearing the chain around his neck, the cool metal of the ring warming in contact with his skin.

As he watched Leo work on the girl, he fiddled, anxiously, with the ring. Then, when he realized what he was doing, he folded his arms across his chest to keep from fidgeting. A second later, as a sharp blast of pain shot through him, he immediately regretted the decision.

Holding his arms out away from his chest, his mind registered the pain even before he looked down and saw the raw, exposed skin on his burned hands and arms. Hearing a sharp intake of breath, he looked up to see Piper staring at his arms in a kind of horrified fascination.

"I think the adrenaline is finally starting to wear off," he told her, weakly, "because my arms hurt like hell."

"Paige is on her way home, as soon as she can clear things at work," Prue broke in, before Piper could say anything. She snapped her phone shut and walked over to join them, still talking. "She said to tell you that she's glad you're home safely, and – whoa. Andy!" she called, and the Whitelighter orbed into the attic in a second.

"How'd you manage this?" he asked, conversationally, as he healed Henry's arms.

"Jumped into a fire," Henry replied, shortly, breathing a quiet sigh of relief as the pain in his arms disappeared. "Hey, is Leo almost done with the girl?"

"Just finished," Leo spoke up, startling them.

He sounded exhausted, and when Henry glanced over, he was just helping the girl to sit up. She looked around the attic, confusion clear on her face, and then her gaze landed on Henry. Her eyes widened in shock and her mouth dropped open.

"Rowan?" she whispered, something like hope in her voice, and she scrambled to her feet. "You're all right? But, Queen Julia said-" She broke off, looking around the attic, again. "Where are we? Rowan, who are these people?"

"I – I think you have me confused with someone else," Henry told her, gently, helping her to sit on the couch when she started to sway. "My name is Henry."

"You're – you're not Rowan?" the girl asked, and she sounded scared, looking at him in confusion when he sat down beside her. "But, I don't understand – what's happening? Why does everything look so strange?"

"What's your name?" Piper spoke up, keeping her voice low to avoid startling the girl.

"Vivienne," the girl answered, distractedly, still staring at Henry in amazement. "But, everyone calls me Veda."

"Okay, Veda," Piper went on, "what do you remember about what happened to you?"

"I was being burned at the stake," Veda said, softly, shuddering with fear at the memory. "No one would help me – they were just going to let me die!"

"Calm down," Henry said, soothingly, reaching out and rubbing the girl's back, gently, when her voice started to rise, hysterically.

She jerked away from his touch, staring at him like he'd just sprouted a second head.

"I don't understand," she repeated, sounding stunned. "How are you not Rowan? You look just like him."

"I don't know what's going on," Henry told her, honestly. "But, we're going to find out."

"Veda," Piper spoke up, when the girl was calm again, "do you know what year it is?"

"Of course," Veda said, sounding more assured at something so simple. "It is the year of our Lord, eleven-thirty-five."

"That's the twelfth century," Prue said, in surprise.

"Um, Veda," Henry said, hesitantly, "it's not exactly the same date you think it is. It's-"

He broke off, unsure if he should finish that statement. After all, who knew what could come of exposing the girl to their time? But, he also doubted that they could keep her cooped up in the attic, completely oblivious to the world outside, until they found a way to return her safely home.

"It's the year two thousand and one," Prue finished for him, and Veda went completely white.

"Impossible," she whispered, staring at them like they'd all gone insane. "It can't be-"

"I'm sorry," Henry said, feeling like the words were grossly inadequate in the face of her shock.

"Everyone I love is gone," Veda went on, burying her head in her hands. "They've been dead for hundreds of years."

Henry shot the other occupants of the attic a look, unsure of what to do. But, when Veda's shoulders started shaking, and she broke into muffled sobs, he wrapped his arms around her. He held the girl as she cried, rubbing slow circles into her back.

"It's going to be all right," he murmured, quietly, feeling sobs wracking her body. "We're going to make everything all right."

"Please don't leave me," the girl choked out, suddenly, even though he'd had no intention of doing so. She reached out, blindly, grasping his free hand and squeezing his fingers, hard. "Please. You're all I have left of Rowan. Please don't leave."

"I won't," Henry assured her. "I'm not going anywhere."

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Prue groaned as she sank down on the couch, leaning back into the soft cushions. They'd spent the last half hour trying to get information out of Veda, but the girl was terrified and confused, and she'd spent most of the time staring at everyone else like she expected them to attack her at any moment. She'd finally fallen asleep on the couch in the attic, clearly exhausted from her ordeal.

Henry had stayed up in the attic with Veda while she slept, since he was the only person that she was willing to trust. Andy had gone to consult the Elders, Leo had been called away by another charge, and Piper had gone to check on how her new manager was doing with the club, taking Phoebe with her, ostensibly to distract their younger sister. And Prue was taking advantage of the unexpected downtime to try and relax.

But, she couldn't possibly relax. Not with everything running through her mind. Phoebe turning evil, Paige taking her powers, the possibility that they could all die, Phoebe turning evil-

No matter what else she tried to think about, she kept coming back to that one. The image of her baby sister being possessed by the Source of All Evil. The world on fire, and Phoebe standing on top.

"This is all my fault," Prue groaned.

"What's all your fault?" a voice asked, over her shoulder, and she jumped in shock.

"Andy!" she scolded, as the Whitelighter dropped down onto the couch, beside her. "Don't scare me like that!"

"Sorry," Andy apologized, sheepishly. "But, you didn't answer my question. What's your fault?"

"Phoebe's going to turn evil because of me," Prue stated, flatly, and Andy looked at her in surprise.

"Now, see," he said, slowly, "that's one thing I'm fairly certain that we can blame on the Source."

"No, it's my fault," Prue said, and Andy shook his head in disbelief.

"You can't be serious," he countered. "Prue, how could you even think something like that?"

"Andy, you weren't there, this morning," Prue told him. "We were blindsided by this, all of us. Even Paige."

"Are we blaming Paige, now?" Andy asked, sounding confused.

"No," Prue said, "but, don't you see? Paige has been through all of this, before, and she had no idea this was coming. Don't you see what this means?"

"Enlighten me," Andy suggested, dryly.

"When I died," Prue told him, "Phoebe stayed good. But, because I'm alive-"

She trailed off and looked at Andy, willing him to hear what she wasn't saying. And, after a second, he seemed to get it.

"You're right," he said, slowly, nodding. "The logic is all there; if Phoebe gets possessed by the Source, it's going to be all your fault."

Prue couldn't figure out if she was glad that he was agreeing with her, or disappointed that he hadn't tried to convince her, otherwise.

"But, you know," Andy went on, and she looked at him in surprise, "if we're blaming people, really some of it needs to go on Paige."

"What are you talking about?" Prue demanded, incredulously. "She didn't do anything. Paige saved this family!"

"Exactly," Andy pointed out, his tone reasonable. "If she hadn't come back in time, then she wouldn't have saved your life."

"Well-" Prue started, but Andy wasn't going to let her finish.

"And, of course, we can't overlook Billie and Christy," he added. "After all, if they weren't evil in the future, then Paige wouldn't have had to come back in time in the first place. But, I guess that's on you, again, too."

"What?" Prue asked, and Andy shrugged.

"Well, your death is what made Paige a witch in the first place," he pointed out. "So, that's your fault, too, if you think about it."

"I don't think that's how that works," Prue muttered, under her breath, but Andy wasn't listening to her.

"But, you know, you only died because of Evil," Andy went on. "So, I guess we're back to blaming the Source. Hey, look at that."

He shot her a cheesy grin, leaning back against the couch cushions as he folded his arms over his chest. There was a distinctly smug look on his face.

"Are you done?" Prue demanded, shooting him a glare, and Andy just smiled at her. "You really know how to ruin a good pity party, you know that?"

"It's what I'm good at," he told her, draping an arm around her shoulders. "Prue, none of this is your fault.

"I'm supposed to protect this family," Prue insisted, although the protest sounded weak even to her ears.

"You're supposed to protect each other," Andy corrected, gently. "That's what family is for."

"He's right, you know," Paige spoke up, and Prue jumped, glaring at her younger sister.

"Is everyone trying to scare me, today?" she asked, rhetorically.

"Didn't mean to," Paige apologized. "So, what are you blaming yourself for?"

"She thinks that she's the reason Phoebe's going to get possessed," Andy piped up, helpfully, grunting softly in pain when Prue elbowed him in the side.

"No way," Paige declared, her tone indicating that she wasn't going to listen to any arguments on the subject. "Don't even think about that."

"Think about what?" Piper chimed in, as she and Phoebe entered the living room.

"Prue's just being irrational," Paige told them.

A second later, as Prue telekinetically flung a pillow at her, she deflected it with a quick burst of wind, sending it flying through the air to smack into the wall.

"Well, you are," she said, defensively, shooting a glare at Prue. "If anything happens to Phoebe – and that's a pretty damn big if – it's not your fault."

"Is that what you've been upset about all morning?" Phoebe demanded, incredulously, before Prue could say anything. "Prue, that's insane."

"Is everyone ganging up on me, today?" Prue demanded.

"That's the other thing family is good for," Paige told her, quietly.

"Prue," Phoebe said, seriously, "Paige is right. Nothing that happens to me is your fault. I know that you want to protect all of us from everything that's out there, but sometimes you can't. Sometimes bad things happen, and sometimes we're going to get hurt. But that doesn't make it your fault."

"I guess you're right," Prue acknowledged, grudgingly.

"Of course I'm right," Phoebe said, smugly. "I'm always right."


	55. Chapter 55

**Author's Note: **Major thanks to my amazing beta reader, **cruelangel101.** And, as always, thanks to my readers and reviewers.

**Chapter Fifty-Five**

"Where's Henry?" Paige asked, looking around the living room.

"He's upstairs in the attic," Prue started to say, but she then she was cut off by Cole shimmering into the room.

He was looking around the room as if he expected someone to be coming after him, and there was a slightly frantic look in his eyes.

"Honey, are you okay?" Phoebe asked, jumping up from the couch to embrace him.

"I'm good," Cole said, after a moment, wrapping his arms around her. "I don't think I was followed."

"Did you find anything out?" Paige asked, as Cole sat down in one of the armchairs, with Phoebe perched on the armrest. "Like who the Source is after, maybe?"

"I didn't hear anything," Cole said, sounding frustrated. "Spent the whole morning dodging bounty hunters. Your powers saved my life once, though," he added, looking at Phoebe.

"Yeah, about that," Phoebe said, hesitantly. "Honey, you're not going to have those powers for much longer."

"You found a way to get your powers back?" Cole asked. "That's great."

"Sort of," Phoebe temporized. "It's more of a halfway solution. I mean, we don't really have a choice, and it's for the best, really-"

"Phoebe," Cole interrupted, gently, "what are you talking about?"

Phoebe shot a pleading look at her sisters, and then the four of them filled Cole in on the morning's recent developments. Cole was silent after they'd finished, a grave look on his face.

"If this is what comes of me staying a demon-" he started, but Phoebe cut him off before he could finish.

"No," she said, flatly, surprising him.

"Phoebe," Cole started to protest, but she interrupted him, again.

"No," she repeated, emphatically. "I know what you're thinking, and I'm not going to let you do it."

"Phoebe," Cole tried, again, but she wasn't finished.

"It was hard enough watching you die in Paige's memories," she snapped at him, her eyes flashing with anger. "And, you're going to ask me to watch it for real? Not a chance. I'm not letting you, or anyone else, sacrifice themselves for me."

"You're talking about being possessed by the Source of All Evil," Cole argued, but Phoebe wouldn't back down.

"Without my powers," she pointed out, "I'm useless to the Source. He'll have no reason to go after me if I'm an ordinary mortal."

"He could still use you to get to your sisters," Cole retorted.

"He can try," Paige spoke up, a dangerous tone in her voice. "I've already watched the Source take away too much of my family; he's not going to get the chance to do it, again."

"So, I guess you're set on this, then?" Cole asked, looking at Phoebe, and she nodded.

"We were just waiting for you to get back," Phoebe told him. "Then, the Elders can give my powers to Paige."

"You ready?" Paige asked, looking over at Phoebe, and her older sister nodded.

"As ready as I'll ever be," she remarked, wryly. "Sandra?" When the Elder orbed into the living room in response to her summons, Phoebe continued, "We're ready."

Sandra nodded, motioning for Phoebe, Paige, and Cole to join her in the middle of the room. When they were standing in front of her, she placed a hand on each of Phoebe's shoulders, concentrating. A second later, glowing orbs of light rose out of Phoebe to hover in the air, and a gesture from Sandra had them floating over to Paige.

Paige gasped in shock when the orbs entered her body, going cold all over as she absorbed Phoebe's Charmed power. A second later, she shuddered, again, when Sandra gave her the powers that she'd taken out of Cole. She rubbed her hands over her arms, trying to quell the itching sensation under her skin.

"That's it," Sandra said, as the light disappeared into Paige's skin. "It's done."

"How can we be sure that it worked?" Piper asked, doubtfully, eying Paige. "You don't exactly look any different."

"There's not exactly a neon sign hanging over your head flashing 'witch', either," Paige retorted, wryly.

"Well, what about levitation?" Prue suggested. "Except that you can levitate as a Whitelighter, can't you?" she added, sheepishly, a moment later.

"Not exactly a litmus test," Paige confirmed. "Anyone want me to try and get a premonition off them?"

Prue shrugged, reaching out a hand. Paige clasped her hand for a second, and then shook her head when nothing happened. She moved on to Piper, Andy, and Cole in succession, and still nothing. Then, she touched Phoebe's hand.

_They were standing in the middle of the penthouse. On either side of her were Prue and Piper, gripping her hands, tightly. Phoebe stood nearby, tears streaking down her face. And contained in a crystal cage was a figure wreathed in flames, a faceless man with dark hair-_

Paige jerked her hand away from Phoebe, gasping as the premonition ended.

"Seriously," she said, glaring half-heartedly at Cole, "when we vanquish the Source, you're going to be somewhere on the other side of the world. You and Phoebe, both."

"You still saw it, didn't you?" Phoebe asked, and Paige had no trouble guessing what she was referring to.

"I don't care what I saw," she retorted. "We're changing it."

"What if we can't?" Cole asked, quietly, and then he held his hands up in surrender when everyone else glared at him, furiously. "Okay, we'll change it."

"Are we done?" Paige asked Sandra, turning to face the Elder, and the older woman nodded. "I'm going to be upstairs," she told her sisters. "I want to see Henry, make sure that he's all right."

Before she headed for the stairs, she turned to Phoebe, hugging her sister, tightly.

"You okay?" she murmured, quietly, and she could feel Phoebe nodding against her shoulder.

"I'm fine," Phoebe assured her, hugging her back. "Take good care of my powers, huh?"

"You got it," Paige promised.

Then, she turned and headed for the stairs. As she went up to the attic, her thoughts turned away from Phoebe and toward the girl sleeping in the attic. Prue and Piper had filled her in as best they could, but even with everything they'd told her, she really didn't know what to expect.

The last time she and her sisters gone back to that time, back to the Prince's kingdom, they'd been focused on stopping the Enchantress. Their goal had been to keep the Enchantress from seducing the Prince and bearing his heir, to keep her from taking over his kingdom.

_'Guess we failed, there,'_ she thought, wryly.

Failed was an understatement. From what she understood, the Enchantress had succeeded in killing the Prince and taking over his kingdom, and the backlash of that action had almost cost a young girl her life. Witches were being hunted down and killed, and the kingdom was in chaos.

_'This is a mess,'_ Paige thought, shaking her head. _'And I don't even know how to begin to fix it.'_

But, she pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind as she reached the attic. As she entered the room, Henry looked up from where he was sitting on the floor beside the couch, his face lighting up when he saw her. He didn't move as she walked over to where he was sitting, and she saw the sleeping girl's hand tightly clutching his own.

"She sleeps easier when I'm close by," he said, softly, as she sank down to the floor beside him. "I think she recognizes me, somehow." He looked at her curiously, as if expecting her to come up with an answer.

"I don't know," Paige said, with a shrug, to his unspoken question. "She didn't say anything?"

"She called me Rowan, at first," Henry told her. "She's so scared."

"She almost died, today," Paige said, although she was sure that Henry needed no reminding. "I can't imagine how afraid she must have been."

Veda mumbled something in her sleep, then, tossing her head so that a curl of hair fell over her eyes. Without thinking, Paige reached out to brush the hair away from the girl's face, her fingers lightly touching Veda's forehead.

_The Enchantress was running through a forest, her torn dress tangling around her legs as she ran. She was clutching a small bundle to her chest, a tiny baby wailing at the top of her lungs. _

_"Hush," the Enchantress said, her voice rough as she glanced briefly down at her infant daughter. "Do you want to bring the palace guards down on our heads?"_

_But, the child kept screaming, undaunted. The Enchantress glanced behind her, cursing when she heard hoof beats in the distance, heard the baying of Richard's hunting dogs. The sounds were getting louder and louder, as her pursuers gained ground. _

_She stumbled suddenly, her feet dragging over the rough ground. She couldn't keep her balance as she started to fall, and she instinctively twisted around so that she hit the ground, first. The impact with the hard ground rang through her body, pain shooting down to her bones as she shielded her baby from the fall. _

_She tried to get back to her feet, but exhaustion swamped her, and the world went gray in front of her eyes. Black spots were dancing in her vision as she dragged herself across the forest floor, trying to get as far away from the hunters as she could. She could hear them getting closer, could almost feel the dogs' hot breath on the back of her neck as they closed in on her. Her vision was getting blurry, the air in front of her shimmering with muted colors, and she thought she recognized the touch of familiar magic._

_Then, suddenly, the guards were on her. But, the dogs ran straight past her, and the guards acted like they couldn't even see her. She barely breathed as her pursuers disappeared further into the forest, and once they were out of earshot, she let out a slow, relieved breath. _

_At the sound of a twig snapping, her head shot up in alarm. The movement made the forest spin in front of her eyes, and the blackness threatened to overwhelm her. She clutched her daughter protectively to her chest, baring her teeth in an animalistic snarl as she tried, futilely, to gather the scattered threads of her magic into something coherent. _

_Then, a familiar figure crouched down in front of her, a concerned expression on his face. His mouth was moving, but she couldn't hear what he was saying. And her arms went limp, sagging loosely down to her sides as he gently took the baby from her arms. _

_He settled the baby securely in his arms, reaching for her. As his hand touched her face, a feeling of warmth rushed through her, and she let her eyes fall closed. _

_"Rowan," she whispered, and then the blackness crashed down on her…_

Paige jerked out of the premonition, her fingers still shaking as she lifted her hand away from Veda's face.

"Well," she said, quietly, looking over at Henry, "I think I know why Veda feels so comfortable around you. She recognizes your soul."

"Care to explain that?" Henry asked, curiously.

"Remember how I told you that I had an evil past life?" Paige asked him. "The Enchantress?"

"Yeah," Henry confirmed. "What about her?"

"I just had a premonition about her," Paige told him. "And your past life saved her – and her baby," she added, nodding at Veda.

"Since when do you have premonitions?" Henry asked, but the rest of his sentence was cut off as Veda started to wake up.

The girl sat up, blinking slowly as she looked around the room. Her hand tightened on Henry's as she took in the clearly unfamiliar surroundings, and then her eyes fell on Paige. Her mouth dropped open in shock as she stared at her. She reached out with a trembling hand to touch Paige's face, as if trying to convince herself that she was real.

"Mama?" she whispered, her voice ragged. "You're alive?"


	56. Chapter 56

**Author's Notes: **Major thanks to my beta, **cruelangel101**, and my friend,** faithinhim_4ever**, without whom this chapter would not exist. And to my readers, for waiting so patiently for this next chapter.

**Chapter Fifty-Six**

Veda had been dreaming about fire. The world had been burning, and nothing she did could stop the flames.

_'Help me!'_ she tried to scream, as the fires closed in on her, but no sound was coming out of her mouth.

Then, the heat had disappeared as quickly as it had hit her. She felt as if she'd just been doused with cold water, and the shock of it had her eyes flying open.

She looked wildly around the room, and for a second, she didn't know where she was. Nothing looked a1t all familiar, and a jolt of fear ran through her. Her fingers tightened, involuntarily, on the hand holding hers, and, as her fuzzy memories returned, she looked over at Henry for reassurance.

Then, her eyes fell on a familiar face, one that she'd seen in her dreams, and in Rowan's rough sketches. She gasped in shock, her eyes going wide as she reached a trembling hand out toward the woman.

"Mama?" she demanded, hoarsely. "You're alive?"

The woman who was crouching down beside her blinked in surprise. Her mouth fell open in shock, and then understanding dawned in her eyes and she shook her head, regretfully.

"I'm sorry, sweetie," she said, quietly. "I'm not who you think I am. My name is Paige."

Veda nodded, reluctantly, accepting the woman's words as truth, especially when she took in the woman's unusual clothing that seemed very similar to what everyone else in this strange time was wearing.

"I'm sorry," she murmured, quietly, feeling a slow blush creep up her cheeks. "I thought that you were someone else."

She glanced down, awkwardly, at her hands, feeling acutely embarrassed at having made such a mistake. Rowan had taught her to be more observant than that, and she should have realized the truth sooner, especially after everything else that had happened.

_Rowan-_

The thought of her father had fresh tears springing to her eyes. She scrubbed roughly at her eyes with the back of her hand, barely noticing the unblemished skin on her hands and arms. It hadn't surprised her to wake up completely healed; the Whitelighter called Leo had been the first person that she'd seen upon waking up, and she'd recognized the aura of his power as soon as she'd seen it.

_'Yet another thing I missed about this Henry,'_ she thought, bitterly, a little bit angry with herself.

She'd been so shocked to see someone who'd looked so much like Rowan that she hadn't realized at first that the glow of his magic wasn't surrounding him.

"Are you all right?" Paige asked, suddenly, breaking into her thoughts, and Veda looked at her, startled.

"I – I'm fine," she said, stammering slightly. "I am a little thirsty, though," she added, softly, and Paige nodded in understanding.

"I'll be right back," she said, reassuringly, and then she orbed away in a bright flash of light that hurt Veda's eyes.

She was back less than a minute later, with a glass held in her hands. Veda took it from her, cradling the glass carefully in both hands as she sipped slowly at the cold water. She took her time, studiously avoiding both Paige and Henry's gently-probing gazes. But, she finally reached the bottom of the glass, and she could only stall for so long.

"I suppose you want to know how I wound up on the pyre, don't you?" she asked, softly, glancing up from the glass to look briefly at the couple. "Why Queen Julia would want me dead?"

"That would be a start," Henry said, slowly, shooting a glance at Paige. "You mentioned a little bit of what happened, before-"

"But, I probably didn't make a lot of sense," Veda finished for him, embarrassed at being reminded of her earlier breakdown. "I'm sorry, I was just-"

"Scared," Paige finished for her, when she trailed off, awkwardly, and Veda nodded after a moment.

"Scared," she agreed, quietly. "I just – I want to go home. I want to see Rowan, again."

"And, you will," Paige said, firmly, her tone clearly brooking no argument. "I promise. But, we're not going to send you back there until we're sure that you're going to be safe. I'm not going to let you wind up on that pyre, again."

Veda nodded, feeling like a weight had been lifted off her chest. But before she could start talking, she heard the distinct sound of footsteps on the stairs. She tensed in automatic anticipation of attack, only relaxing when she realized that Paige and Henry had barely even startled at the sound.

"Don't worry," Paige said, smiling at her, reassuringly. "It's just my sisters."

True to her word, Prue and Piper came through the door, stopping at the doorway when they saw Veda sitting up on the couch.

"How are we doing up here?" Piper asked, a bright smile on her face.

"We were just about to figure out a course of action," Paige spoke up, saving Veda from having to say anything. "We can't do anything until we know what we're dealing with."

Veda nodded, feeling like she wasn't going to get a better opening than that. She fixed her attention on Paige and Henry as she started to speak, forcing herself to ignore the other women in the room. It wasn't that they were bad people, they were just very overwhelming, and she couldn't deal with much more, right now.

"Our kingdom used to be a peaceful one," she began, softly, twisting her hands anxiously under the soft blanket in her lap, fisting the rough material that remained of her tattered, burned skirt. "Then, nearly thirty years ago, the old king died without a proper heir, replaced by his cousin, Lord Alvan."

She kept her eyes fixed firmly on a spot on the far wall as she spoke, struggling to keep her voice even as she recited the tales that Rowan had been telling her all her life. Everyone was silent while she talked, for which she was grateful.

"Alvan was a cruel man," she went on, still not looking at anyone. "He outlawed the practice of magic in the kingdom, forcing magical practitioners to go into hiding. Some of the older, stronger witches started teaching their now-forbidden craft, and that was where Rowan and my mother met. They grew up together, learned their magic together. And, when their teachers started plotting to take their kingdom back from Alvan, giving it back to the people, they were the ones chosen for the task.

"Rowan joined the kingdom's soldiers, rising through the ranks until he'd earned a position in the king's personal guard. And my mother took a position in the kitchens, working her way to become one of the king's attendants."

"But, that would have taken years," Prue protested, and Veda gave her a small smile, nodding in confirmation.

"They figured that they had nothing but time, and nothing left to lose," she said, repeating the same mantra that Rowan had told her that they'd all lived by, in those years. "They were willing to do anything they could to end Alvan's tyranny."

"Did it work?" Piper asked, and Veda nodded, again.

"For a while," she answered, softly. "Rowan and my mother were Alvan's most trusted advisors, and they used their influence to their full advantage. Alvan had two sons, and they were just as corrupted as he was. My mother used her powers to sway them to her will, to make them do what she wanted. Alvan's oldest son married a noblewoman of some faraway kingdom, becoming its ruler; his youngest son-"

"Yes?" Paige prompted, gently, when Veda broke off her recitation.

"His youngest son challenged Rowan to a sparring match, one day," Veda told them. "Rowan fought fairly, the prince did not, and he almost killed Rowan. Two days later, he fell from his horse while hunting and broke his neck. Rowan would never tell me one way or another, but I think that my mother killed the prince for what he'd done to Rowan."

"Dangerous woman," Piper commented, idly.

"You have no idea," Paige muttered, under her breath, although Veda clearly heard her.

"After Alvan's sons were taken care of," she went on, determined to finish her tale, "Alvan was left without an heir. He had taken on the son of some distant cousin, raising him as a ward of the court, and he named him as his heir. The boy had never been close to Alvan, and he was sympathetic to the cause that Rowan and my mother were fighting for, so then all they had to do was wait for Alvan to die, and to put Richard on his throne.

"So, all this time, the Enchantress was trying to save the kingdom?" Paige broke in, when she hesitated, and Veda nodded.

"At first," she answered. "But, Rowan said that the power she wielded became irresistible, and it changed her. She became corrupted by the politics of the court, grew hard and cold from dealing with Alvan and his sons. And by the time it came to finally put Richard the First on the throne, the heir to Alvan that she and Rowan had been hoping for all along, my mother decided to take Richard's power for herself.

"She seduced Richard away from his intended, Lady Julia, and she locked Julia in the dungeons, to keep their love from breaking her spell. Her goal was to produce an heir to take over the kingdom, to rule it with her power. What she didn't know was that Julia was already pregnant with Richard's heir, and that her own pregnancy made her magic unreliable, making her vulnerable.

"The night that my mother killed Richard, she used her magic, and it took all of her strength. Killing him left her drained, and she was chased from the castle by the palace guards, who were trying to kill her. She escaped to the border of the kingdom, where Rowan rescued her, keeping her safe. They hadn't seen each other for years, but she trusted him enough that she left me with him, to keep me safe, and then she left."

"Where did she go?" Piper asked, quietly, and Veda shrugged.

"I don't know," she whispered. "She disappeared, and no one ever saw her, again. Rowan couldn't even find her, and he's just as powerful as she was. He told me once that if he couldn't find her, then she was either very good at hiding, or she was dead."

"All of this is different from what happened the first time," Paige interjected, quietly. "We stopped the Enchantress from killing the Prince – Richard, I mean – and from-"

She broke off, suddenly, color flushing high on her cheeks, but Veda could hear the unspoken words.

"You stopped my mother from conceiving me," she guessed, knowing that she was right when Paige shifted uncomfortably in her seat on the couch beside her. "Maybe if you'd been able to stop her, this time, none of this would be happening," she finished, quietly, looking away from the older woman's piercing gaze.

"What?" Prue blurted out, as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"If you went back far enough," Veda suggested, hesitantly, hardly daring to believe the words that were coming out of her own mouth, "if you stopped my mother before-"

"No," Paige and Henry said, in unison, cutting her off before she could finish her sentence. "No," Paige continued, her voice firm. "We are not unmaking you."

Veda let out a breath she hadn't even been aware she'd been holding. A part of her had been terrified that these future witches were going to take her up on her offer, but as she snuck glances around her, she saw the same fiercely determined expressions on all of their faces. They didn't even know her, but they weren't willing to let her go without a fight, and the thought made her feel warm inside.

"So," Paige said, briskly, her tone indicating that they were moving on from their previous topic, "after your mother killed the Prince, what happened? When I met her the first time, Lady Julia was such a sweet girl. How did she go from that to putting burning innocent people at the stake?"

"That," Veda said, taking a deep breath, "is also my mother's fault…"


	57. Chapter 57

**Author's Note: **Thanks to my amazing beta, **cruelangel101**, for her help with this chapter. And thanks to my amazing readers. You guys are awesome.

**Chapter Fifty-Seven**

Paige watched Veda as she tried to gather her thoughts, seeing the girl's hands clench in the folds of the blanket that was covering her lap. The girl's knuckles were white from tension, and Paige instinctively reached out and covered Veda's hands with her own.

"It's okay," she murmured, softly, giving the girl a small smile. "You're safe, here."

"I know," Veda whispered, giving her a tiny smile in return.

She took a deep breath, clearly trying to steady herself, still holding onto Paige's hand for reassurance.

"My mother started out trying to save the kingdom," she said, raising her head for the first time and looking at everyone else in the room. "But, she terrorized people, instead. Queen Julia, especially, bore the brunt of her wrath. My mother hated her."

"Why?" Piper asked, curiously.

"Rowan said that it was because Julia reminded my mother of herself," Veda replied. "He said that, before she turned, they could have been like sisters. Instead, my mother saw in Julia everything that she'd destroyed in herself, everything she'd come to hate."

"You said that your father told you all of this?" Prue interrupted, suddenly. "No offense, but this seems like a lot to lay on a kid. If I had a kid, I'd want to shield her from things like this." She winced when she realized what she'd said, and how it had probably sounded. "Sorry. I didn't mean it like that."

"It's all right," Veda said, quietly. "One of Rowan's gifts was precognition," she told them. "It was unreliable, most of the time, and he saw only flashes. But, I think that he would have seen something, maybe even this, to tell me everything that he did about my mother."

"Useful," Piper commented.

Veda nodded, wordlessly, looking back down at her hands. "Maybe if he'd seen more, we could have stopped all of this from happening."

"Maybe he did," Prue suggested. "Maybe we're the ones who are supposed to make things right."

"Maybe," Veda acknowledged, quietly.

"So," Paige prompted, after a moment, "you said that the Enchantress went after Julia."

"She did," Veda replied. "She tortured Julia, and Julia became twisted and cold, just like my mother. She made it her mission to eradicate magic throughout the kingdom, starting with my father." She paused, visibly shaken, and Paige squeezed her hands, encouragingly. "And ending with me," she finished, softly.

"Good magic is not going to end with you," Paige said, firmly, looking Veda square in the eyes. "We are going to fix this."

"You're in good hands, kiddo," Piper said, reassuringly, and Veda shot her a tiny smile. Turning to her sisters, Piper added, "So, what's the plan?"

"The plan," Paige answered, "is to go back to Veda's time and rescue Rowan."

"Oh," Prue said, exchanging a wary look with Piper. "Go back in time and change history. Is that all?"

"Are we even allowed to change history?" Piper asked, doubtfully. "I mean, we've gone back other times, but, we haven't been allowed to interfere. Mom's pact with Nicholas, for one," she added, giving Prue a pointed look.

"But, there have been times when you've changed history," Paige protested. "When you three went back to save Melinda Warren, Phoebe's original deal with the Source to have Tempus turn back time-"

"When you and Henry came back in time to save my life," Prue interjected, quietly. Shrugging, she added, "Maybe this is one of the times when we are allowed to interfere."

"How do we know that we're doing the right thing, though?" Piper asked, stubbornly persistent. "You said that you stopped the Enchantress from killing the Prince, but now he's dead. So, clearly whatever you changed the first time wasn't right. How do we know that this is?"

"We don't," Paige said, with a quiet sigh. "The first time all of this happened, the Elders told us that if we didn't stop the Enchantress, good magic would perish. But, we didn't stop her this time, around, and good magic still exists. We're still here."

"Maybe there is no right thing," Prue mused.

"I don't know," Paige admitted. "What I do know is that people are in danger. Veda's father could die. And I can't let that happen."

"So, changing history, it is, then," Piper said, into the silence that followed Paige's quiet statement.

"We've got some work to do first," Prue reminded her. "Potions, spells, the works."

"You and I can tackle the potions down in the kitchen," Piper said, nodding at Paige.

"And I'll grab Phoebe," Prue added, "and we'll get started on those spells."

"Where is Phoebe, anyway?" Paige asked, looking around the attic and realizing that her third sister wasn't with them.

"She and Cole are still downstairs, talking about everything," Piper answered. "Phoebe's not having second thoughts about giving you her powers," she hastened to reassure Paige, "but, it's just a lot for her to take, all at once. Finding out that she could be possessed by the Source, becoming mortal-"

"Losing her powers to her baby sister," Paige added, with a wry smile. "Yeah, I get it. She okay?"

"She's dealing," Prue replied. "This will help."

"Speaking of helping," Piper said, looking over at Veda, "do you want to help us get the potions ready?"

"Why do you need potions or spells?" Veda asked, confused. "You're all witches, aren't you? Don't you have powers?"

"In this time, we do," Paige answered, "But, once we're back in your time, we're powerless. But, potions and spells still work, so we're taking an arsenal as backup."

"I'd love to help," Veda said, eagerly, looking elated at the thought of having something productive to do, but she froze before she could fully stand up from the couch, her cheeks flaming brilliant crimson. "My clothing," she murmured, clearly embarrassed. "I am afraid that I am not decent."

"You need clothes," Piper said, in understanding, glancing at her sisters. "Phoebe's about her size-"

"So are you," Paige muttered, leaning over so that only Piper could hear her. "And Phoebe's wardrobe is a little more risqué than yours."

"Why doesn't that feel like a compliment?" Piper muttered, shooting her an impish smile. "I'll go grab some stuff out of my closet."

She darted out of the attic, her feet pounding on the stairs. She was back a few minutes later with a long denim skirt and a high-necked blouse. When Prue and Paige shot her knowing looks, she clutched the clothes defensively to her chest.

"What?" she muttered, a mulish tone in her voice. "This is a perfectly acceptable outfit."

"Yeah," Prue said, teasingly, "if you're a nineteenth century school marm."

"Oh, shut up," Piper said, swatting at both her sisters as she passed Veda the skirt and blouse.

"Honey," Paige added, shooting Henry a look as Veda accepted the clothes from Piper.

"I'm going," Henry said, standing and heading for the attic door. "I'll go downstairs and-" He paused, looking slightly baffled. "I'll start going through those apartment pamphlets we picked up, how's that?"

"I'll see you downstairs in a few minutes," Paige promised him, smiling up at her husband.

Henry disappeared out of the attic, leaving the four women alone in the room. As soon as he was gone, Veda pulled the blanket away from her legs, clutching the borrowed clothes to her chest.

"You can use the corner to change," Paige said, jerking her head toward the far corner of the attic.

Veda nodded, looking slightly nervous. As the younger woman moved into the corner, Paige held out her hand, concentrating. A second later, a thick blanket of fog swept across the floor of the attic, rising up until it was chin level with Veda, completely hiding the rest of her from view.

She got changed, quickly, emerging from behind the curtain of fog. She was tugging on the long sleeves of the blouse with an uneasy expression on her face.

"Something wrong?" Prue asked, concerned, but Veda shook her head.

"I'm just not used to clothing that feels like this," she admitted. "It's very – it's not important," she added, hastily. "Finding Rowan is."

"Yes, it is," Paige told her. "And, I promise you, we are going to get him back."


	58. Chapter 58

**Author's Note: **Thanks so much to my beta, **cruelangel101**, who is amazing. And thanks to all my readers and reviewers, for sticking with me this long, and for however long this epic lasts.

**Chapter Fifty-Eight**

Paige could hardly believe what she had learned from Veda. As a child, when the Enchantress had been nothing more than an elaborate fairy tale, she'd believed with all her heart that the Enchantress was evil. Imprisoning the innocent Princess and killing the Prince, taking over the kingdom, and ruling with her dark powers – there'd been no other conclusion. And, meeting the Enchantress as her past life had only confirmed her suspicions.

But, she never could have imagined this. Could never have imagined that her past life had once tried to save her kingdom, tried to protect her people from a tyrant.

_'How could she ever let herself get so twisted as to want to destroy her people?'_ she thought, frustrated. _'How could I have ever been that kind of person?'_

She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't realize that Piper and Veda had gone ahead of her into the kitchen, not until Henry took her arm, jolting her out of her thoughts.

"What's up?" he asked, quietly, giving her a curious look.

"Nothing much," Paige told him, as she leaned against the wall. "Just thinking."

"About the Enchantress?" Henry asked, wryly, and Paige nodded.

"Am I that transparent?" she asked, smiling tiredly at her husband.

"Only to me," Henry assured her. "Come on, what's going on?"

"I'm scared," Paige admitted, after a long moment.

"About changing the past?" Henry guessed, but Paige shook her head.

"No," she replied, "that's old hat by now. No, I'm scared to come face to face with the Enchantress, again."

"I thought she was dead," Henry reminded her. "Veda seemed pretty certain of it."

"I'm not so sure about that," Paige sighed. "The Enchantress – she's powerful, she's smart, she overthrew an entire kingdom and ruled it, on her own. She's not going to just roll over and let a bunch of mortals kill her."

"You think she's in hiding, somewhere?" Henry asked, and Paige nodded.

"I don't know why she wouldn't have acted before now," she replied, "but I think she's out there. I just feel it, you know?"

"So, why are you scared?" Henry asked, concerned. "If she really is alive, then you've got an ally in your quest to rescue Rowan and bring good magic back to the kingdom."

"Yeah," Paige said, with a tense, tight smile, "an ally in my past life, who's murdered and manipulated people. She's evil, Henry; there's no other word for it. She's-"

She trailed off, running a hand through her long hair in frustration, but Henry understood what she was getting at.

"She may have been your past life," he said, softly, too low for Veda and Piper in the kitchen to overhear him, "but she is not you. You did not do any of this."

"Logically, I know that," she murmured, just as quietly, "but I'm having a hard time convincing myself of it."

"Trust me," Henry told her, seriously. "You are not that person. Not anymore."

"I used to be," Paige corrected him, quietly. "And some part of her still lives inside me. Every time a demon attacks, every time one of my sisters, or you, or Tyler is in danger, I just get overwhelmed with rage. And it scares me to think that, one of these days, I won't be able to control myself."

"You won't lose control," Henry said, but Paige shook her head.

"I struck Christy down when she attacked you," she reminded him, softly. "I would have killed her if you hadn't stopped me."

"No, you wouldn't have," Henry said, quiet conviction in his voice. When Paige looked at him in surprise, he added, "I know you, Paige. You are not a killer."

"I wish I could believe that," she said, softly.

Henry shot her an exasperated glare, but before he could say anything, Piper called out to Paige from the kitchen.

"Hey, are you planning on joining us any time this year?"

"I'll be right there," Paige called back. "Give me a second." Turning her attention back to Henry, she added, "I love you, you know that, right?"

"I love you, too," Henry told her, folding her into a tight embrace, his arms warm around her. "Go be Super Witch before your sister yells at us, again."

Paige went into the kitchen, where Piper and Veda were already hard at work. Saucepans were bubbling on the stove, and Piper had set the younger girl to chopping ingredients at one of the counters.

"Start working on the potion on this piece of paper," Piper ordered, without looking up at her. She passed Paige a scrap of paper from a pile at her elbow. "It replicates my freezing power."

"Yes, ma'am," Paige said, with a mocking bow at her older sister.

Piper pulled a face at her, snatching up the dish towel sitting on the counter beside her and throwing it at Paige. Paige ducked the towel, an impish grin on her face.

"I missed this," she confided in Piper, as she started working on the freezing potion. "You and I used to work on potions all the time, together."

"Why'd we stop?" Piper asked, curiously, and Paige shrugged.

"Busy," she replied. "We had our own lives, our own families. We just kind of drifted apart."

"That's not going to happen, this time," Piper said, firmly. "I won't let it. We've missed enough time, as it is." She hesitated, adding, "You know that if we'd known, we'd have tried like hell to get you back, right?"

"I know," Paige told her, with a small smile.

"And when things settle down a little bit," Piper continued, "we're going to spend some time making up for lost time."

"Sounds good," Paige replied.

On the other side of the kitchen, Veda was watching the both of them with a curious expression on her face.

"I have a brother," she murmured, without preamble. "When he is old enough, he will rule the kingdom. I hope he will be a good king."

Paige exchanged a look with Piper. "Have you ever spoken to your brother?" she asked.

"Only in secret," Veda told them. "Richard has magic of his own, magic he hides from his mother. When we were younger, he would come down to the village with a few, loyal guards, and Rowan taught him how to use his magic. He taught both of us."

"Sounds nice," Piper commented.

"For a while," came the reply. "Then it became too dangerous, and we had to stop. We haven't spoken to each other in years. The last time I saw him, I was about to die." Looking down at the cutting board she was working at, she added, abruptly, "These are done."

"Thanks, sweetie," Piper said, snagging the contents of the cutting board and dumping them into the saucepan on the stove. "So, this right here is a-"

"A stunning potion," Veda interrupted, before Piper could finish. "When thrown, it temporarily paralyzes the victim."

"Very good," Piper said, sounding impressed. "You know your potions."

"Rowan taught me everything I know," Veda said, proudly. "Just like I someday hope to teach my children."

"You will," Paige assured her, firmly. "Don't worry; you will."

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Nearly an hour later, everyone convened in the attic.

"We're armed for bear," Piper announced, as she, Paige, and Veda stormed through the door. "We've got enough firepower here to storm Normandy."

"Or at least a medieval castle," Paige said, wryly.

"We've got at least a dozen different spells," Prue told them, from where she, Phoebe and Cole were huddled around the Book of Shadows.

"Most are defensive," Phoebe added, "since we figured that your potions would be offensive."

"Yeah, Piper has this weird thing for scalding people's flesh," Paige said, with a pointed look at her sister.

"I just want to make sure we're prepared," Piper argued. "Besides, Veda came up with at least half of these recipes."

"That's disturbing," Henry spoke up, from where he was leaning against the wall. "You're only fourteen," he told Veda.

"We don't use the potions on people," Veda protested, tugging at the collar of her blouse. "Just demons."

"I'm glad you're on our side," Paige remarked, dryly. "Everyone ready to go?"

Piper and Prue both chimed in with their agreement, followed quickly by Veda and Henry. Paige shot her husband a worried look.

"Are you sure you want to come?" she asked, biting at her lip. "Honey, no offense, but you're powerless."

"So are you, three, once we're back there," Henry pointed out. "Besides, you need me and Veda, to get Rowan out of prison while you're on your part of the mission. And, I have no doubt that I'll be carrying as many potions as you can stuff in my pockets, right?"

"Maybe," Paige admitted, sheepishly. "I'd just feel better, knowing that you were back here, safe and sound."

"I don't care how many powers Veda has, she's just a kid," Henry argued. "I'm not sending her in there, alone."

"I'll be fine by myself," Veda spoke up, hopefully.

"No!" every adult in the room snapped at once.

"Just a suggestion," Veda muttered, backing down.

She wandered across the room to the window, looking outside with an almost wistful expression on her face. Paige grabbed a few potion bottles from where she and Piper had spread them out on the table, going over to stand beside Henry.

"This one induces sleep," she said, handing him a bottle filled with a light blue liquid. "This one will cause an explosion – use just a few drops for a smaller effect." When Henry shot her a knowing look, she shrugged. "I might have discovered that one by accident."

"I'd hate to see what the kitchen looked like after that one," Henry joked.

"This one is a binding potion," Paige went on, handing him a third potion. "I'm hoping that you don't need to use any of these potions, to be honest, but better safe than sorry."

"When Veda first woke up," Henry told her, "she was talking about a sorcerer that Julia uses to track down other witches. From what she said, he sounded like a pretty nasty guy. I wouldn't mind using a binding potion on him."

"Yeah, well, try not to run into him," Paige said. Sighing, she added, "I hate this. I feel like we're throwing you into the lion's den."

"You're not throwing us," Henry replied. "We're walking in on our own."

"That's not funny," Paige said, flatly. "I just don't like the idea of you and Veda being by yourselves. It's too dangerous."

"So is what you'll be doing," Henry pointed out. "Paige, we'll be fine. Veda has her powers, we have potions, and I have these."

He produced a bundle of sticks from his pocket, and Paige eyed him, warily.

"Road flares?" she asked, incredulously. "You're bringing road flares with you?"

"Don't think of them as emergency flares," Henry said, with a smile. "Think of them as instant sticks of fire."

"What about your gun?" Paige argued, and Henry snorted in disbelief.

"Right," he drawled, "because showing up with a handgun in the Middle Ages isn't going to look at all strange. We're trying to hide, honey, remember? That's why we're all dressed up in Halloween costumes." He gestured at the old-fashioned clothing that all of them were wearing, eliciting an eye roll from his wife.

"They're not costumes, they're camouflage," Paige protested, automatically. "And, don't you think that road flares are going to look suspicious, as well?"

"We've got a better chance of explaining them away, than we do my gun," Henry pointed out.

"Piper's right," Paige said, rolling her eyes heavenward. "I married MacGyver." She shook her head in exasperation. "I just don't you or Veda to get hurt."

"You feel responsible for her," Henry said, suddenly, comprehension dawning in his eyes.

"Of course I do," Paige said, with a tired sigh, slumping against the wall and rubbing at the bridge of her nose with her fingers. "She's the Enchantress's daughter. She's-"

"Yours," Henry said, and Paige nodded, wordlessly, after a moment. "Ours," Henry corrected, getting a wry look from Paige. "Well, she is my past life's adopted daughter," he went on. "She's as much mine as yours, in a way."

"Promise me you'll watch out for her," Paige asked, quietly, glancing over at Veda, who had left the window to look at the Book.

"I'll keep her safe," Henry told her.

"And yourself," Paige said, insistently. "I don't want to be a widow."

"Hey, you two," Prue called out. "Come on, we have to get going."

"It's time travel," Paige replied. "It's not like we're going to be late."

She and Henry walked over to the rest of the group standing by the Book.

"Are the travel spells ready?" Paige asked, and Phoebe brandished two pieces of paper.

"One to get you there," she said, "and one to get you back home. Don't lose this one," she added, plaintively. "I don't want to have to explain to Tyler that I got his parents stuck in the twelfth century."

"Don't worry," Piper said, "we're going to rescue the wizard, save the kingdom, and we'll all live happily ever after."

"You've read way too many fairy tales," Paige told her, teasingly. "Veda, you got your spell ready?"

"Right here," Veda said, brandishing her own version of the time travel spell. "Ready, Henry?"

"As I'll ever be," Henry replied, as he held his arm out to Veda. The girl tucked her hand into the crook of his elbow as she started chanting.

_"Blood to blood, I call to thee._

_Brother mine, I wish to see._

_Reaching out through space and time,_

_Send us now to his side."_

Bright white lights surrounded Veda and Henry, and a second later they disappeared into thin air. Looking over at her sisters, Paige linked arms with Prue and Piper, so that they wouldn't be separated.

_"Hear these words, hear the rhyme,_

_Kingdom, now, I wish to find. _

_Crossing history to her side,_

_From myself, I will not hide."_

The attic disappeared in front of Paige's eyes in a bright swirl of lights. When the light faded, and she could see again, she, Prue and Piper were no longer in their house. Instead, they were standing in a jail cell.

"Well, now what do we do?" Prue demanded.


	59. Chapter 59

**Author's Note: **A million thanks to everyone who's been reading and reviewing; you guys are awesome, and I love hearing what you think. And, thanks to my fantastic beta, **cruelangel101**, for her help with this story. I wouldn't have gotten this far without her.

**Chapter Fifty-Nine**

_**1120, AD**_

Paige looked around at the cell they'd landed in, exchanging wary glances with her sisters.

"The spell wasn't supposed to do this," she said, defensively, when they glared at her in unison. "We were supposed to be taken straight to the Enchantress."

"Well, obviously, it didn't work," Piper muttered, testily. "Where are we, anyway?"

"You're in the dungeons beneath the castle," a new voice spoke up, almost timidly, and the three of them whirled around in the direction of the speaker.

The dungeons were dark, and it was hard to see into the other cell on the opposite side of the room, but Paige thought she could make out a person standing in the shadows, leaning against the far wall.

"Who are you?" she asked, cautiously, and then she gasped when the person stepped forward, out of the shadows, and she recognized Julia's haggard features.

"Lady Julia?" she demanded, and the young woman looked confused at being recognized.

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" she asked, quietly.

"Not really," Paige said, hesitantly, wondering just what the heck was going on. "It's kind of a long story."

"Who are you people?" Julia pressed, insistently, as she looked them over. "I was alone in this room; where did you come from? What were those bright lights?"

"That's also a long story," Prue spoke up, still shooting Paige a dark look. "Um, no offense, but you're the queen, aren't you? What are you doing locked up in the dungeons?"

Julia stared at them, incredulously, her eyes wide with shock.

"Me, queen?" she demanded. "Have you hit your heads? The only one who calls herself queen around here is the Enchantress."

Silence reigned as the sisters absorbed this new information, and then Piper smacked Paige lightly on the arm.

"Good going," she scolded. "You dumped us in the past."

"It's magic, not an exact science," Paige retorted, sharply.

"Magic?" Julia asked, sounding confused. "You're witches?"

"We're not in league with the Enchantress," Piper hastened to reassure the other woman. "We're trying to stop her, as a matter of fact."

"Not that we can do anything from inside a jail cell," Prue said, pointedly, and Paige leveled a glare at her older sister.

"Stand back," she snapped, and then she pulled a potion bottle out of her pocket.

Checking to make sure she had the right one, she threw the explosion potion at the door of their cell. The glass vial shattered on the iron bars, and there was a suitably noisy explosion that threw up a cloud of dust, knocking them back against the far wall in the process. They were slammed back against the rough stones, and Paige's ears were ringing from the impact of the blow.

Paige coughed as the dust choked her, waving her hand in the air to try and clear the dust away. When she could see, again, she groaned in dismay to see the bars in front of them still intact, the potion only scratching the surface of the dull metal.

"I guess the Enchantress warded the cells against magic," Piper guessed. "Including our potions."

"This was not the Enchantress's doing," Julia spoke up, coming forward cautiously from the corner to where she'd retreated after the explosion. "Richard's father used these cells to hold witches before he executed them."

"Does anyone else see the irony in using magic to destroy magic users?" Prue muttered, under her breath.

"Strangely enough," Piper retorted, "I'm not laughing."

Paige ignored their lighthearted bickering in favor of walking over to the door of their cell, poking cautiously at the scarred areas of the bars, where the potion had hit.

"This area looks weak, here," she said, hopefully. "Maybe if we used another one, it would be enough to overcome the wards on the bars."

"Or," Prue retorted, "maybe we'd blow ourselves up, instead."

"Do you want to just sit here and do nothing?" Paige demanded, but before Prue could form a reply, the door to the dungeons opened.

"I'm telling you, Your Majesty," a male voice was saying, as a trio of people strode into the dungeons. "I heard something suspicious down here."

"And you didn't think to investigate on your own?"a deep, familiar voice drawled. "I don't see why I should have to be bothered for something as tedious as-"

As the Enchantress stepped into view, she was looking around the dungeons. And her voice trailed off when she saw Paige standing in one of the cells, her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Well, this is certainly interesting," she murmured, quietly, as she looked Paige over, speculatively. "And just who might you be?"

Without even thinking about it, Paige moved instinctively between her sisters and the Enchantress as the other woman advanced on them. She could feel Prue and Piper tensing up behind her, and, even without looking back at them, she knew that her older sisters were preparing themselves for a fight.

"That's a long story," she said, tersely, glaring at the Enchantress.

"I have a lot of time to hear it," the Enchantress told her, a strange, small smile on her face.

The other woman gestured imperiously at the door to the cell, and one of the guards leapt forward to unlock it. Paige moved cautiously toward the door, with Prue and Piper right behind her, but the Enchantress shook her head.

"Not them," she said, sharply. "Just you."

As Paige stepped through the door of their jail cell, she could feel a tingle running across her skin as she moved past the magic-dampening wards. She clenched her hands into fists at her sides to keep the Enchantress from seeing the sparks of lightning running along her fingers as she almost instinctively channeled her past life's powers. She was outnumbered, and she knew that she couldn't take them all on, and she wanted to keep her borrowed powers secret for as long as possible.

"I'm not going anywhere without them," she said, tightly as she indicated her sisters, glaring at the other woman.

"They will come to no harm, here," the Enchantress told her, with a wave of her hand that had the door slamming shut behind Paige. "What kind of monster do you think I am?"

"You really don't want to hear an answer to that question," Paige muttered, darkly, glancing quickly back at her sisters to ensure that they were still all right.

Prue and Piper were crowding the door of their cell, both of them practically glaring daggers at the Enchantress standing in front of Paige. Piper jumped back as one of the guards poked at her through the bars of the cell, but Prue stood her ground, a fiercely defiant expression on her face. Paige longed to tell her that everything was going to be all right.

But, at the Enchantress's haughty gesture, she moved away from the cell, knowing that it would be easier for everyone if she just played along for the time being. As she stepped into the light in the middle of the room, she heard Julia's shocked gasp, and she turned to meet the younger woman's stunned gaze as she got a good look at her for the first time.

"What is this?" Julia demanded, hoarsely, as she stumbled backward. "You lied to me! You said you were trying to stop the Enchantress!"

Paige winced at the other woman's words, seeing an amused glint in the Enchantress's eyes as she looked her over, again.

"Did you, now?" she murmured, quietly. "We really do have a lot to talk about, don't we?"

She grabbed Paige's arm in a painful grip, dragging her closer.

"I don't know how you got here," she hissed, quietly, "but if you try anything, those women you are with will die. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Paige gritted out, shortly, resisting the urge to look back at her sisters and reassure herself that they were still safe.

"Good," the Enchantress said, with a smile. Then, louder so that everyone could hear her, she added, "Come along, namesake. You and I are going to be spending quite a lot of time together."

Without waiting for an answer, she started to pull Paige toward the door of the dungeons. Before she'd opened the door, she turned back to the guards.

"Report to me if they attempt to escape," she said, nodding at Prue and Piper.

Then, she dragged Paige out into the hallway, the heavy door clanging ominously shut behind them.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_**1135, AD**_

_'Well,'_ Henry thought, looking around, _'at least it's not out in the middle of nowhere.'_

Veda's spell had taken them out of the attic and into the middle of a castle. At least, Henry assumed it was a castle; he couldn't imagine many other buildings being constructed completely of stone.

Looking over at Veda, who was standing beside him, he saw the same awestruck expression on the girl's face that he imagined was on his own. But, he figured it was only to be expected; Veda had spent her whole life living in the forests, hiding from the people who lived in this castle. She would have no reason to ever seek it out.

"Where do you think they're holding your father?" he asked, breaking the silence that had fallen between them.

"Down," came the immediate answer. "Rowan can draw power from the sun; Gorey would never risk giving him the opportunity."

"Down it is, then," Henry remarked. "Which way do you think we should go?"

Veda bit her lip as she looked around the hallway they were standing in. They'd landed in the middle of an intersection of corridors, with hallways branching off in four different directions. They couldn't search down all of them, not if they wanted to remain inconspicuous.

"Give me some of your hair," Veda requested, suddenly, holding out her hand toward him.

Reaching up, Henry grabbed a few strands of hair, taking care to yank the hairs out by the roots. He passed the hair over to Veda, who pulled one of her potion bottles out of the pocket of her skirt. Pulling the stopper out of the bottle, she carefully fed the hairs, one at a time, into the bottle.

Replacing the stopper, Veda shook the bottle for exactly ten seconds, watching the potion with a critical eye as it turned from bright blue to dark purple. Then she crouched down, uncapping the bottle, again, and she poured a thin, steady stream of liquid onto the stone floor. The liquid ran into the cracks of the stone floor, traveling along the floor toward the hallway off to their left.

"There," Veda said, softly, nodding at the potion. "My father is being held this way."

"Handy," Henry commented, impressed.

Paige had told him, once, that she hoped that she never got so jaded that she stopped being amazed by all that magic could do, and now he understood what she meant.

He and Veda went down the hallway, following the liquid that was still, inexplicably, flowing along the cracks of the stone floor. Veda had to refresh the potion two more times along the way, and they finally stopped after about fifteen minutes in front of a thick, wooden door.

"We are lucky that we haven't run into any guards before now," Veda said, softly, as they stared at the locked door.

"Considering that we're headed towards what are likely their dungeons," Henry commented, "I don't think that our luck is going to hold."

"How are we going to get through the door?" Veda asked, looking nervously around at the empty hallway around them. "We could use Paige's exploding potion on the lock-"

"Too noisy, even with just a few drops," Henry decided. "No, this is where my misspent youth comes in handy."

Even as Veda shot him a curious look, Henry pulled a set of lock picks out of his pocket. He'd spent a lot of time as a teenager getting into trouble, including a couple times he'd been charged with breaking and entering. He'd turned his life around when he was seventeen, thanks to the help and guidance of his parole officer, but he'd never completely given up his past. He'd been keeping his old lock picks for years, and he'd grabbed them before they'd left.

_'Never can tell when these things will come in handy,'_ he thought, wryly.

He went to work on the locks, grinning in triumph when he heard the soft click of the tumblers falling into place.

"Like riding a bicycle," he muttered, under his breath, as he eased the door open.

He gestured Veda to precede him down the staircase. As the girl slowly made her way down the stairs, Henry pulled out one of the flares, striking it on the end of the wall to ignite it. The flare illuminated the narrow staircase, and the pair descended the rest of the way in silence.

There was a hallway at the bottom of the staircase, and a door at the end of the hallway. Henry moved in front of Veda as they stopped in front of the door, using his lock picks to open it. Then, he and Veda went into the dungeon.

The small, dank room was dark when they entered, but the light from the flare chased the shadows away. Hearing the sound of chains from behind him, Henry turned to see a bare foot poking out of the corner.

"Stay behind me," he murmured, quietly, to Veda.

He moved cautiously toward the corner of the dungeon, throwing out an arm to stop Veda when she tried to move around him.

"Might be dangerous," he told her, but the girl wasn't listening to him.

"Richard!" she cried, rushing to her brother's side.

The boy lifted his head from where he was slumped against the wall, staring at them in confusion. There was a gash on his forehead, with dried blood crusted down the side of his face.

"Vivienne?" he murmured, dazedly.

"Richard, what are you doing down here?" Veda demanded, and the boy let his head fall limply backward against the stone wall.

"I was-" He broke off, coughing violently, trying weakly to curl in on himself even though it looked like the maneuver was causing him even more pain. "I was trying to free your father," he gasped, when he could breathe, again. "I sent the guards away – told them you'd been spotted – and I came down here to free Rowan."

"My father, is he-" Veda demanded, anxiously, and Richard flapped a hand weakly to the side.

"Over there," he told them. "He's hurt – it's bad."

Veda had already scrambled to her father's side, gasping in horror at the state Rowan was in.

"Rowan," she whispered, whirling around to stare at Henry in shock. "Henry, help."

Henry was already moving to stand beside Veda, crouching down beside the girl and the unconscious man in front of her. It was a shock to see his own face, albeit battered and bloody, staring back at him, but he pushed it aside. He carefully pushed back one of Rowan's eyelids, sighing in relief when the pupil constricted under the fire from the flare.

"I think he's going to be okay," he told Veda, checking the reaction of Rowan's other pupil. Twisting around, he demanded, "Richard, if you sent the guards away, who put you down here?"

"That honor would be mine," an oily voice spoke up from behind them.

Standing in the doorway of the dungeon was a man wearing an ornate robe. Sigils were sewn into the fabric of the cloth with gold thread, and it looked like it had cost a fortune, by anyone's standards. Light from the flare glinted off his bald head as he stepped further into the dungeon.

Henry started to stand up, but at a gesture from the man, he found himself flying backward to slam painfully into the wall. Veda cried out in panic, her eyes going wide with shock, and she flung a hand out, throwing a burst of fire at the man. The man simply held out a hand, waving away the fire like he was batting away an insect.

With another wave, he conjured manacles out of thin air, the thick chains wrapping tightly around Henry and Veda. Henry struggled, but the chains only tightened further, choking the air out of him as his chest was slowly crushed under the pressure.

"Allow me to introduce myself," the man said, with a mocking bow. "My name is Gorey. I am your executioner."


	60. Chapter 60

**Author's Note: **A million thanks to everyone who's been reading and reviewing; you guys are awesome, and I love hearing what you think. And, thanks to my fantastic beta, **cruelangel101**, for her help with this story. I wouldn't have gotten this far without her.

**Chapter Sixty**

_**1135, AD**_

"Go to Hell," Henry tried to choke out, but the only sounds that emerged from his throat were short, painful gasps for air.

With an amused smirk on his face, Gorey waved his hand again. The chains loosened their stranglehold on Henry, and he coughed, choking on a huge gulp of air. He tried to sit up, but the chains still had him pinned to the floor, unable to move.

"I don't know how you got free," Gorey said, crossing the length between them to prod Henry with the toe of his soft shoe. "But, I'm going to make sure that you don't get the chance, again."

Then, his eyes sharpened as he stared at Rowan, still unconscious in the corner of the cell.

"Who are you?" he demanded, harshly, staring in disbelief between Henry and Rowan.

"His brother," Henry said, shortly, hoping that the other man fell for it. "I came to save my family from you."

"A family reunion, then," Gorey said, sneering at him. "How sweet; you can all die, together."

Then, he whirled around and stalked out of the cell, the door clanging shut behind him. Henry groaned, his eyes closing as he let his head thump back against the straw-covered floor.

"Well, this is turning out splendidly," he said, to no one in particular.

Veda sighed, rattling the chains securing her to the wall.

"I don't suppose your misspent youth can get us out of this one?" she asked, hopefully.

"Not this time," Henry forced out, still straining against the chains pinning him to the stone floor.

"I'm so sorry about this," Veda said, sounding suddenly tearful. "I didn't mean to get you into danger, like this."

"It's all right," Henry soothed, craning his head as far as he could to look at the girl. "We'll find a way out of this, don't worry."

He hoped he sounded more confident than he felt, but from the doubtful look on Veda's face, she wasn't buying it. She slumped against the chains holding her prisoner, nudging Richard in the ribs with her toe when he looked like he was about to pass out.

"You should stay awake," she said, when her brother looked at her, blearily. "Rowan taught me that head injuries are bad, and if you fall asleep, you might not wake up, again."

"I'll try," Richard mumbled, still looking like he was fighting unconsciousness.

"Try hard," Veda said, sternly. Looking back at Henry, she added, "How's Rowan? Is he still-"

"He's still out," Henry told her, looking around to where his past life was still slumped in the corner. "I can't reach him to try and wake him up."

He remembered Paige telling him something about how she'd been able to channel her past life's powers, the first time they'd met, but his attempt to try and use Rowan's powers had completely failed. He didn't know if it was because the other man was unconscious, or if he didn't have any active powers…

"Veda?" he asked, suddenly. "What kind of powers does your father have?"

"Premonitions, conjuration, affinity with nature," the girl answered, after a moment. "But, even if he was awake, it's too dark-"

"What does the dark have to do with anything?" Henry asked, even as he instinctively looked at the multitude of shadows that filled the small room.

"Rowan's power comes from the sun," Veda explained. "Gorey knows this; it's why he put Rowan in the dark."

_'So much for that idea, then,'_ Henry thought, morosely, falling into silence as he fruitlessly tried to come up with an escape plan.

"We're going to die, aren't we?" Veda asked after a few minutes, a despairing tone in her voice.

"We are not going to die," Henry said, firmly, but he was having a hard time even convincing himself.

Veda didn't answer him; she just fell into a morose silence as she stared off into the distance, her gaze drawn to the tiny slit of a window at the very top of the dungeon wall. Every so often, she would nudge Richard, or talk to him in a quiet voice, something to keep him from passing out. And she kept sneaking worried glances over at her father, her eyes filling with tears every time she looked at him.

_'Wake up, damn it,'_ Henry thought, frustrated, as he glared at his past life. _'You're supposed to be this powerful witch. We need you. Your daughter needs you.'_

But the other man's eyes stayed resolutely closed, his breathing slow and shallow and the rise and fall of his chest barely visible. A cold knot of fear lodged itself in Henry's chest.

He couldn't tell how much time was passing as he lay there on the floor of the dungeon. The window on the far side of the dungeon was too small to let in any sort of light, and the only illumination in the room came from the candles scattered around the dungeon. The room got darker and darker, as the candles burned down to nothing, leaving them alone in pitch blackness. Soon after, he fell asleep to disturbing dreams.

It was light, again, when he woke up, and he blinked to try and clear the cobwebs from his head. His eyes felt heavy, gritty, like they were covered in sand.

"Veda?" he called out, hoarsely, "Richard? You guys okay?"

"We're alive," came the quiet reply from Richard, with an answering mumble from Veda a few seconds later.

"My father?" she asked, hopefully, and Henry automatically glanced over to where Rowan was lying.

For a second, he thought he saw movement of the other man's chest, and he was about to answer in the affirmative. But, then he heard a distinctive rattling sound as the man struggled to breathe, and his heart sank in his chest.

_'No,'_ he thought, struggling uselessly against his chains as he watched his past life die in front of his eyes. _'Damn it, no. Not like this.'_

But, the universe clearly wasn't listening to him. Rowan let out another rattling breath, and a small bead of blood emerged from his lips as he exhaled. Then, he stopped moving, stopped breathing. He was gone.

"Henry?" Veda prompted, hesitantly, and he wondered how he was supposed to break the news to the girl.

"I'm sorry," he started, helplessly, and Veda's eyes immediately welled up with tears.

"He's dead?" she whispered, a broken sob tearing out of her throat.

"Yeah," Henry said, quietly. "Veda, I'm so sorry."

His only answer was the sound of Veda crying quietly to herself. When he looked over at her, the girl had her knees drawn up to her chest, her face hidden from view as she curled up on the floor facing away from him. Her shoulders were shaking from the force of her sobs, and Henry hated not being able to comfort her.

He didn't know how long they were alone in the dungeons before the door opened, and he craned his head around to see Gorey standing in the doorway. There was a cruel smirk on the other man's face as he regarded them, staring down at them like they were interesting specimens about to be dissected.

"Get them," Gorey ordered, as he stepped aside to allow a group of hulking men into the dungeons. "Leave the chains on, or they'll be able to use their magic."

Then men started toward them, and Henry instinctively kicked out as the nearest guard crouched down next to him. His foot met unyielding steel as he struck the armor the man was wearing, the other man barely even twitching at the blow. In response, the guard kicked him, hard, in the ribcage, a sharp, blinding pain shooting through his entire body. The guard followed up with several more savage blows to Henry's chest and abdomen, and he curled in on himself as best he could, trying to protect himself as the man's comrades joined in.

He could hear Veda screaming at the guards, could hear Richard ordering them to leave him alone. But, the men ignored the kids and just kept beating him. He felt something give in his chest as his ribs cracked under the abuse, and he bit back a scream at the white-hot agony that shot through his chest.

"Enough," Gorey finally ordered, in a bored voice. "We don't want to deny the villagers the pleasure of watching the witches die, do we?"

Reluctantly, the guards stepped away from him, distaste clear on their faces. The first guard, the one he'd kicked, bent down and unfastened his chains from the floor, dragging him unceremoniously to his feet. Behind the guard, the others were doing the same to Veda and Richard, easily resisting the kids' attempts to struggle away from them.

When Veda lunged at Gorey, suddenly, her captor backhanded her hard enough to send her crashing to the floor, again. Henry strained against his restraints, struggling to get to the girl, and his guard cuffed him upside the back of his head.

"This one's dead," the last guard said, from where he was crouched beside Rowan's lifeless body, and something like disappointment flashed across Gorey's face.

"Pity," he said, his eyes flicking over to where Rowan lay. "I was looking forward to taking his head, myself."

"What do you want done with him?" the guard asked, and Gorey looked contemplative.

"Bring his body," he said, with a casual shrug. "We'll toss it to the dogs, let them have some fun."

"No!" Veda screamed, horror reflected in her eyes, but she subsided when her captor shook her, roughly.

"Bring them up top," Gorey ordered, as he opened the door to the dungeons and swept out of the room. "I want to get this lot executed before Her Majesty returns."


	61. Chapter 61

**Author's Note: **Thanks a million to my amazing beta, **cruelangel101**, for her help with this chapter. And thanks to my readers and reviewers. You guys are fantastic, and I love hearing what you think. That's what makes this story great.

**Chapter Sixty-One**

_**1120, AD**_

Piper glanced up as Prue paced yet another circuit of the small cell they were trapped in. She had her arms wrapped tightly around her torso, and she was practically vibrating with tension, so much so that Piper was amazed that she didn't just take off. As she reached the far wall and spun on her heel, starting back yet again, Piper sighed in exasperation.

"Would you stop that?" she demanded. "You're going to wear a hole in the floor."

"Not likely," Prue retorted, shortly, glancing pointedly down at the stone floor. "How can you just sit there while Paige is god knows where?"

"Because we can't exactly do anything for her, can we?" Piper pointed out, reasonably. "We're stuck in this cell with no way out, those guards took our potions when they searched us-" She glared at the closed door, where the guards were standing outside in the hallway.

"We can't just do nothing!" Prue exploded, flinging her hands instinctively at the door of their cell. Predictably, nothing happened.

"And, we have no active powers," Piper finished, looking up at her irate older sister. "I don't see the point in wearing myself out over something useless, when I'm sure Paige is working on something right now to get us out of here, and I, for one, want to be able to get out of here when she does."

"You're placing a lot of faith in Paige," Prue grumbled, but she dropped down to the floor beside Piper, anyway.

"And you're not," Piper felt compelled to point out. "Don't tell me you're jumping on the paranoia bandwagon. Having Phoebe mistrust Paige was bad enough while it lasted."

"I do not mistrust Paige," Prue said, and she sounded offended by the very idea. "But, I don't think we should be depending on just her to get us out of here."

"You hate sitting around not able to do anything," Piper said, knowingly, and Prue nodded.

"Damn straight," she shot back. "I feel helpless in here. And, besides, we're the Charmed Ones. We're no good if we're separated."

"We're no good without powers, anyway," Piper felt compelled to point out.

"What about Paige?" Prue countered, immediately. "You saw her hands. She was sparking, again."

"She was pissed," Piper reminded her, but then she got what Prue was getting at. "And she had active powers."

"Probably channeling the Enchantress's," Prue told her. "So, why didn't she do anything? She had powers, and she just went with her, like they were old buddies."

"Do I need to remind you that Paige was outnumbered three to one?" Piper asked, archly. "Just because you throw yourself into the line of fire doesn't mean that Paige inherited your lack of common sense."

"Hey!" Prue muttered, sounding wounded. "I do not throw myself into the line of fire."

"Sin balls, pit of Hell," Piper said, succinctly. "What I'm getting at is that Paige probably has more than enough self-preservation instincts to keep herself alive long enough to get us all out of here. Which would be why she didn't try to fight a highly-dangerous witch using borrowed powers."

Prue grumbled something under her breath that was too low for Piper to catch, and then she subsided, leaning back against the wall and closing her eyes. Piper turned her attention away from her sister to see Julia watching them from her cell, a worried expression on her face.

"I don't-" the other woman started, but then she trailed off, shaking her head in confusion. "I don't understand. How does your friend look so much like the Enchantress?"

"She's not just our friend," Piper told her, trying to keep the worry out of her voice, "she's our sister. And, she's-"

She trailed off, unsure of how to continue, and Prue picked up where she'd left off.

"She's a future life of the Enchantress," Prue answered, looking across the dungeon at Julia. "She's the same soul, reborn into a new body."

"Well, then, she's just as evil as the Enchantress," Julia said, immediately, and Piper sighed.

"No, she's not," she groaned. "She's not evil, all right? When we're reborn, it's like getting a fresh start. Paige isn't any more evil than you are."

"She looks exactly like the Enchantress," Julia said, stubbornly.

"Yeah, that happens, sometimes," Piper said, vaguely, hand waving away the more complicated explanations that sprang to mind.

Julia didn't need to know about souls being able to recognize each other over time; that would only confuse her even more.

"Look," she finally said, "all you need to know, right now, is that we really are here to help you. Paige wants to get you out of this dungeon, and save your Prince Richard – he is still alive, right?" she asked, hastily, hoping that they hadn't been too late to prevent his death.

"Richard lives," Julia said, despair in her voice. "And, thanks to the Enchantress's spell, he is utterly besotted with her. I tried to talk to him, the first few times he came down here, but it's as if he cannot even hear me. Not with her magic tied to his soul."

"If he's under the influence of the Enchantress's magic," Prue pointed out, "he probably can't hear you."

"I tried to break the spell she has over him," Julia went on, morosely. "But, her hold is too strong. Hers, and that demon spawn she carries within her."

"The Enchantress is pregnant?" Piper asked, hopefully, ignoring the slur at the unborn Veda. "But, that must mean that you are, too."

"Only a few weeks," Julia said, her arms curling protectively around her stomach as she looked down. "Richard and I-"

She blushed, suddenly, her cheeks going bright pink as she stared down at the ground in embarrassment.

"You loved each other," Piper prompted, gently, and Julia nodded.

"We should have waited until after we were wed," she said, softly. "But, I just love him so much-"

"True love," Piper muttered, suddenly, and Prue looked at her in surprise. "It's in all the stories, right? A kiss of true love to break a spell? That's why just talking to Richard didn't shake him out of things."

"So, we can save them both," Prue picked up on her train of thought. "If we can get to the Enchantress before she kills Richard-"

"Her own pregnancy is not far enough along, yet," Julia broke in, overhearing them. "She needs Richard alive until she knows that her baby will be born, safely, that her child will be able to inherit the throne."

"Well, that's good," Piper said, and Prue and Julia both shot her incredulous looks. "Not that she's going to kill him," she went on, defensively. "But, it's good that we have time to fix things."

"And, it's a good thing that the Enchantress is already pregnant," Prue muttered, too low for Julia to hear her. "Because if we did anything that unmade Veda, Paige would kill us."


	62. Chapter 62

**Author's Note: **Thanks a million to my fantastic beta, **cruelangel101**, without whom I wouldn't have gotten this chapter finished. And thanks so much to my amazing readers and reviewers. You guys are great, and I love hearing what you think.

Informal poll: 1) If you could have changed anything in Charmed, any season, what would it be and why? 2) What would you like to see happen in the future of Tempus Fugit? Not promising anything, mind you; but I'll certainly consider suggestions, especially if they fit with what I've got coming.

**Chapter Sixty-Two**

_**1120, AD**_

Paige looked around at the sun-drenched room that the Enchantress had brought her to. She'd been expecting something huge, something extravagant and showy, designed to shock and overawe her. Instead, she found herself standing in a small, clearly intimate sitting room. There was a low couch settled underneath the window, and the small table in front of the couch held a vase filled with bright flowers.

"Why am I here?" Paige demanded, and the Enchantress just gave her a small smile.

"Would you like to sit down?" she asked, nodding at the low couch, although from the tone in her voice, it was clear that her words were more of a command, than a question.

"No," Paige said, flatly, glaring at her past life. "I'm fine right here."

"Sit down, anyway," the Enchantress suggested, cocking an eyebrow at her.

Without waiting for an answer, she crossed the room and sat down on one end of the couch, her skirts settling gracefully around her. After a moment, Paige followed her, sitting gingerly on the edge of the couch, not willing to relax. The Enchantress chuckled when she saw Paige's tension.

"I'm not going to hurt you," she remarked, idly.

"Considering that you're evil," Paige said, dryly, "you'll forgive me if I have a hard time believing you."

"Evil is such a harsh word, wouldn't you say?" the Enchantress asked, with a small smile. "I prefer to call myself ambitious."

"So ambitious that you'd enslave the very people you were trying to save?" Paige asked, wincing mentally as the careless words left her lips. Damn, she hadn't meant to give the other woman an opening like that.

"Everything I've done is for the good of my people," the Enchantress told her, a lofty tone in her voice, and Paige was barely able to muffle the incredulous snort that threatened to escape.

But, before she could say anything, there was a quiet knock on the door, and Paige watched in no small amazement as Prince Richard strode into the room. He had eyes only for the Enchantress, crossing the room swiftly to her side and enfolding her in his arms.

"Darling Vivienne," Paige could hear him murmur as he bent down to kiss her, deeply. "I have been too long without your shining presence."

Paige felt her eyebrows creeping up toward her hairline as she watched the pair embrace, and then she pointedly cleared her throat when they showed no signs of separating.

"Time to come up for air," she said, with forced cheer, as they both turned to look at her. Richard had a shocked look on his face as he stared between her and the woman he'd been kissing only seconds before.

"My love?" he asked, looking at Vivienne in amazement, and the woman reached out and patted him almost condescendingly on the cheek.

"Why don't you go wait for me down in the gardens?" she suggested, steering him firmly toward the still-open door. "There's something that you and I have to discuss."

"For the good of your people, huh?" Paige echoed, mockingly, as Vivienne shut the door behind Richard.

"He's Alvan's chosen heir," Vivienne said, dismissively, as she strode back to the couch and retook her seat. "That monster's blood runs in his veins; I'm merely taking steps to ensure that he doesn't have the chance to destroy my people as Alvan tried to do."

"You seriously believe that, don't you?" Paige demanded, incredulously. "You believe that you're doing the right thing."

"My brothers and sisters burned at Alvan's hands," Vivienne snarled, her eyes flashing with fury. "If bedding Richard ensures his compliance and his mercy, it's what I'll do."

"And what about Lady Julia?" Paige pressed, insistent. "Is locking her up in the dungeons a part of the Greater Good, as well?"

"Julia is a distraction to Richard," Vivienne said, dismissing the other woman with a wave of her hand. "I can't afford to have Richard distracted. Not now."

"You mean because your magic isn't strong enough to hold him?" Paige asked, shrewdly, ignoring the glare the other woman shot her way. "The baby is messing with your magic, isn't she? And you're not sure that your magic is strong enough to stand in the way of True Love."

"How – how could you possibly know that I am pregnant?" Vivienne demanded, her voice emerging in a low hiss of fury. "Not even Richard knows-"

"Do I really have to spell it out for you?" Paige asked, wryly. "I'm you, in a little over eight hundred years."

"A future life," Vivienne said, shrewdly. "Don't tell me I'm good in the future."

"Damn good," Paige retorted, a sharp tone in her voice. "Like you used to be, actually."

"You know nothing about me," Vivienne started to protest, but Paige cut her off.

"I know that you started all of this by trying to protect other witches from a cruel man," she said, quietly. "That you and Rowan took your lives in your hands; that the only person you could trust was him. I know that you loved Rowan; that you still love him, or you never would have trusted him with your daughter's life."

"What are you talking about?" Vivienne demanded, angrily. "My daughter?"

"I _am_ from the future," Paige reminded her, pointedly. "I can tell you that, while you have everything under control, now, that's not going to last."

"I-" Vivienne started, furiously, but Paige wasn't going to let her continue.

"When you go into labor, your powers are suppressed," she told the other woman. "The guards turn on you in retaliation for Richard's murder, and you wind up running for your life. You become the most hunted woman in the kingdom, and your actions start the very witch hunts you were trying to prevent in the first place."

"You're lying," Vivienne said, flatly, and Paige shrugged.

"So, don't believe me," she said, pretending to be unconcerned as she leaned back against the cushions. "It's your funeral."

Just like she'd hoped, her casual words had enraged Vivienne, the fire in the other woman's eyes suggesting that she was barely holding back the impulse to attack.

"Death is not my future," Vivienne said, tightly.

"You want the future?" Paige demanded, leaning forward and holding out her hand. "Then, take my hand."

Vivienne raised an elegant eyebrow at her as she looked at the hand that Paige had extended toward her.

"And what, pray tell, is that supposed to accomplish?" she asked, sounding slightly suspicious. "Foresight is not one of my gifts, much as I might wish it to be."

"But, it is mine," Paige told her, leveling an even stare at the other woman. "My sisters and I, our powers don't leave us in the past. They're still there, still within us. And if I can tap into your powers, then you should be able to tap into mine."

Vivienne reached for her hand, and then paused, a calculating look on her face.

"I fail to see what you could possibly show me that would change my mind," she said, a stubborn note creeping into her voice. "This seems to be merely an exercise in futility."

"You'll never know if you don't look," Paige argued, hotly. "Or, are you really going to let your fear outweigh your curiosity?"

"I am not afraid," Vivienne started to protest, angrily, composing herself a second later. "I am not afraid of anything you could show me," she finished, coolly.

"Then, take my hand," Paige said, watching Vivienne's eyes burn at the challenge in her voice.

Mutely, Vivienne reached out and gripped Paige's hand, squeezing hard like she thought she could intimidate her through pain. Paige ignored the other woman's attempt to shake her, focusing instead on what she wanted to show her.

For a moment, nothing seemed to be happening, but then Paige felt a jolting sensation in the pit of her stomach that she was coming to associate with premonitions. The sensation passed, however, as Vivienne channeled the premonition through her, and Paige watched her eyes twitch under her closed eyelids, a slight shaking in her hands the only thing betraying her tension.

Nearly a minute later, Vivienne opened her eyes. The arrogance was gone, replaced by a haunted expression. Whatever she'd seen had left her deathly pale and badly shaken, her hands actually trembling as she reached for the glass of water sitting on the low table. Paige only hoped that it was enough to have swayed her.

"You," Vivienne whispered, hoarsely, and then she trailed off, shaking her head, mutely. She seemed almost too overcome to continue.

"It's overwhelming for me, too," Paige said, sympathetically, and Vivienne shot her a half-hearted glare that dissipated after a few seconds.

"I was trying to protect my people," she said, softly, the fight leaving her as she slumped back against the cushions. "Instead, I sent my own daughter to the fires."

"There's still a chance to save her," Paige said, just as quietly. "A chance to save everyone. All it takes is one word."

"If I release Richard from my spell, he will execute me," Vivienne said, a toneless note in her voice. "What kind of future is that?"

"You're not going to end like this," Paige said, trying to sound reassuring. "Your daughter is not going to end like this."

"Do you really think the child will stay his hand?" Vivienne asked, bitterly.

"I think Richard is more merciful than you give him credit for," Paige replied, evasively. "Especially if he knows that you won't be a threat to him or his family."

Actually, she was lying through her teeth; she had no idea how Richard was going to react. She just needed to convince Vivienne to trust her, and she prayed that she'd be able to keep Richard from killing them long enough to explain things.

"And how am I supposed to convince him of that?" Vivienne started to demand, trailing off a second later when Paige pulled a vial out of the pocket of her dress.

"Binding potion," Paige told her, holding out the vial.

"I'll be powerless," Vivienne protested.

"You'll be alive," Paige countered. "Don't you want to watch your daughter grow up? I can tell you, she's going to be an incredible young woman."

Wordlessly, Vivienne reached out and took the vial out of her hand, studying the liquid inside with an intense expression on her face.

"In the future," she asked, suddenly, pinning Paige with that same intense stare, "in your time – I saw you and Rowan – you still love him."

"He's my life," Paige told her, smiling at the thought of Henry. "He's everything."

"I told Rowan, once, that I would love no other until the end of time," Vivienne told her. "I didn't realize that I was speaking the truth."

Uncapping the potion, she tipped her head back and swallowed the liquid in one gulp. Then, she recapped the empty vial and placed it carefully on the table in front of them, a pensive expression on her face.

"I don't feel any different," she said, softly. "I expected to feel lost, empty-"

"You did the right thing," Paige told her, and Vivienne nodded, her gaze still fixed on the vial. She didn't even look up a second later when Richard, followed by a trio of guards, burst into the room, swords drawn and fury on their faces.

"I hope you're right," was all Vivienne said.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_**1135, AD**_

The march from the dungeons to the courtyard where they were to be executed was the longest walk of Henry's life. Before they'd been escorted out of the dungeons, the guards had thrown heavy black hoods over their heads, blinding them. Henry stumbled along between the guards who were holding his arms in an iron grip.

Behind him, he could hear Veda's hastily-muffled sobs, and Richard's quiet murmurs, presumably trying to comfort her as best he could. One of the guards snapped something that was hard to hear through the heavy cloth, and the children immediately fell silent.

When they were jerked to a sudden stop a few minutes later, Henry almost fell over. His escorts simply tightened their grip on his arms, using pure force to keep him on his feet. A second later, the hood was ripped off his head, taking a healthy chunk of hair with it, and he found himself staring at Gorey's sneering face.

"What?" Henry snapped, when the other man remained silent. "Don't tell me you're going to gloat before you kill us. Isn't that beneath you?"

"Just building up suspense," Gorey said, nonchalantly. "The longer I keep the peasants waiting, the more they'll scream for your blood."

"They'll cheer to see their own prince being murdered?" Henry demanded, incredulously. "You're taking your life into your hands. It'll be your head on the block, next."

"The only ones who know of our dear prince's presence, here," Gorey told him, mocking clear in his voice, "are those who have proven themselves eminently loyal to me, and me alone. And once you are dead, there will be no one left to oppose me."

"If I am dead, my mother will destroy you," Richard spoke up from behind Henry, his voice muffled by the hood still over his head. A quaver of fear was clear in his voice.

"Your mother," Gorey countered, sneering at the boy, "left for Cashel three days ago, and will not return for another fortnight. You will be dead and disposed of by the time she comes back, and I will tell her the heartbreaking tale of how you rode into the forest alone, against my better judgment, and ran afoul of the same evil sorcerer who helped the little witch escape her rightful justice. I dispatched the guards as soon as I knew you were in danger, but tragically we were too late."

"My mother will never believe that!" Richard blustered, sounding absolutely terrified.

"She will when I present her with the bodies of those who slew our beloved prince," Gorey informed him, smugly. Leaning closer to the boy, he hissed, "I have worked too hard and too long to become the dominant power in the kingdom. I will not let you, or anyone else, destroy that for me."

"You're insane," Veda said, her tone flat with disbelief. "That's why you've been hunting us down? It's all been about power?"

"Power is all there is," Gorey said, coldly, straightening and brushing an invisible speck of dust off his robes.

"How come you haven't been killed?" Henry demanded, suddenly. "You're a witch, too."

"I am very persuasive," Gorey said, proudly. "I convinced Queen Julia, after her release from the prison of the Enchantress, that I was her ally. She was already fearful of magic; it was a simple matter to steer her to the way I wished her to think, to have her view me as her only trusted advisor."

"You manipulated her," Henry said, in disgust.

"With great skill and a subtle hand," Gorey told him.

Cocking his head toward the entrance to the courtyard, he seemed to be listening to something. Whatever he heard must have pleased him because he turned back to his prisoners with a cruel smile gracing his lips.

"Your audience awaits," he said, nodding at the guards.

The hood was stuffed back over Henry's head, blinding him again, and he found himself being dragged forward a few seconds later. He could hear the children struggling behind him, and he tried to fight the guards holding him, but his arms were still bound behind his back and he couldn't get enough leverage.

It wasn't long before he could feel himself being forced up a set of stairs, and shoved into a kneeling position in the middle of a rough, wooden platform. The hood was ripped off a second time, and he looked around frantically, seeing two black-hooded figures being tied to pyres on either side of the executioner's stand.

_'No,'_ he thought, desperately, angrily. _'It's not supposed to end like this. Paige and I were going to grow old, together-'_

One of the guards forced his head down onto the block, kicking his legs out from underneath him so that he fell forward, unable to move himself from his awkward position. Through the blood roaring in his ears, he could hear Gorey saying something, although he couldn't make out the individual words. But, when the man fell silent, Henry didn't need words to tell him what was coming next.

He craned his head around as much as he could, and saw a shadow standing over him, blocking out the sun.

_'I'm so sorry, Paige,'_ he thought, desperately willing his wife to hear him, wherever she was. _'I love you."_

Then, he heard the sound of whistling wind as something rushed toward him, and the world went white in front of his eyes…


	63. Chapter 63

**Author's Note: **Thanks a million to my fantastic beta, **cruelangel101**, without whom I wouldn't have gotten this chapter finished. And thanks so much to my amazing readers and reviewers. You guys are great, and I love hearing what you think.

**Chapter Sixty-Three**

_**1120, AD**_

To Paige's surprise, Richard had been as merciful as she'd promised Vivienne that he'd be. He'd even ordered the guards to put their swords away, when the enraged men would have murdered her and Vivienne, outright.

"Go to the dungeons," he commanded the guards. "Free Lady Julia, and the strangers. Bring them to the gardens."

"Your Majesty," one of the guards protested, but Richard just looked at him.

"Go," he repeated, and it was clear that he expected to be obeyed.

After a moment of hesitation, the three men left the room, all of them clearly reluctant to leave Richard alone with Paige and Vivienne. When they were gone, Richard turned to regard the pair, a cautious expression on his face. He stared at Vivienne with something akin to outrage on his face, but then he turned his attention to Paige.

"Explain yourself," he ordered, abruptly. "Who are you? Are you related to the Enchantress?"

"In a manner of speaking," Paige replied. "I'm, um, I'm from the future. I'm her future soul. The women down in the dungeons are my sisters, and we came back to this time to save your life, and your kingdom."

"That's impossible," Richard said, flatly, and Paige shook her head.

"No disrespect intended," she told the man, "but you were entrapped by a spell for weeks, now. How is my being here any less incredible?"

Richard was silent for several long moments, his dark eyes unreadable. After nearly a minute, he gestured wordlessly at the open door with his unsheathed sword.

"Out," he said, shortly, and Paige resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"You were more talkative the last time around," she muttered softly under her breath.

She ignored the curious looks that both Richard and Vivienne shot her, marching resolutely out of the room. She stayed in the lead as they were escorted at sword point out of the castle. When she risked a glance back behind her, she saw Vivienne staring stonily ahead of her as she was prodded along by an equally-furious king. The other woman looked as though she regretted taking the binding potion, and Paige hoped that she wasn't about to do anything foolish.

They made it down to the gardens without incident, where Prue, Piper, and Julia were waiting for them, accompanied by the guards. Julia let out a wordless cry when she saw Richard, running across the space that separated them and throwing herself into the man's arms. A genuine smile spread across Richard's face as he embraced Julia, holding onto her, tightly.

Paige smiled at the sight as she crossed to where Prue and Piper were standing, hugging her sisters, tightly.

"You okay?" Piper murmured, quietly, and Paige nodded wordlessly into her sister's hair.

"I'm fine," she replied, as she pulled away. "I got the Enchantress to take the binding potion," she added, and Piper and Prue looked at her incredulously.

"Did you have to pour it down her throat?" Prue muttered, shooting the sorceress a dark look over Paige's shoulder.

"She took it willingly," Paige countered. "She did it for Veda."

"I guess there's some good in her, after all," Piper mused.

"That has been my hope for a while, now," a voice spoke up from behind them, and Paige whirled around to see a man step out of the shadows at the edge of the gardens.

For a second, as the man got closer, she thought she was looking at Henry. But, Henry's hair had never been that long, his eyes that mossy green color. And he certainly didn't have a long, jagged scar running along the side of his face, from his hairline to the edge of his jaw.

"You must be Rowan," Paige stated, and the man raised an eyebrow at her nonchalant words.

"I must be," he replied, and then his gaze was drawn to something over her shoulder.

Paige didn't even have to turn around to know that he was staring at Vivienne. The hastily-concealed expression of astonishment on his face told her that much.

"You consumed a power binding potion?" he demanded, and though he moved no further from the spot he was standing in, Paige knew his words were directed at Vivienne.

"I did," Vivienne answered, crossing the space that stood between them and ignoring the guards that moved hesitantly to intercept her before falling back to where they'd been standing. "I am powerless," she added, a bitter note in her voice. "Isn't that what you wanted?"

"No, Veda," Rowan said, the clearly-cherished nickname falling easily from his lips. There was an anguished expression on his face as he stared at her, entreatingly. "Not powerless, Ve. Never that. I just wanted you to see yourself, to see what you'd become. I wanted to see in you the woman I loved," he added, softer.

Their conversation had drawn an audience, Paige realized suddenly. Not only the guards, who were still watching Vivienne, and now Rowan, warily, but also Richard and Julia. The young king was still staring at them with an inscrutable look on his face, his gaze coming to rest on Vivienne, last.

"I should have you executed," he said, bluntly, and Paige noted with some amusement that Rowan was just as quick as she was in stepping between Richard and Vivienne. "Should," Richard repeated, emphatically. "But, I have been informed of your – condition."

Paige shot Julia a surprised look, knowing just who would have told Richard about Vivienne's pregnancy. That Julia had done so surprised Paige. She'd thought, given everything that had happened in the future, that Julia would have jumped at the opportunity to see Vivienne no longer be a problem.

_'I guess Richard isn't the only one capable of mercy,'_ she thought, wryly.

It was clear from the look on her face that the same thought had occurred to Vivienne, and she was looking at Julia as if just seeing her for the first time.

"Why?" she demanded, incredulously.

"The child you carry is innocent," Julia replied, quietly. "Much as I may have believed otherwise, a baby must not be judged on the sins of its mother. And," she added, glancing over at Paige, "it seems that even you are able to change your ways."

"Even if it did take you a few hundred years," Prue muttered under her breath, and Paige elbowed her sharply in the side.

"You're not helping," she hissed, glaring at her older sister before tuning back in to what Richard was saying.

"-cannot even banish you," the king was saying. "Therefore, you will live the rest of your years in Rowan's company, under his watchful eye." Casting an almost apologetic glance at the other man, he added, "I hope you can forgive the short warning, my friend."

"Honestly," Rowan said, with a wry twist of his lips, "when you summoned me, I had expected to find myself in a fight to the death."

"You thought I would kill you?" Vivienne asked, sounding shocked, and Rowan shot her a bland look.

"You're telling me that you would have greeted me with open arms if you still had your powers?" Rowan asked, skepticism clear in his voice. "The last time we saw each other, you drove me from the castle after trying to drop half the Keep on my head."

"And now you are to be my jailer," Vivienne said, bitterly.

"You could always be dead," Paige pointed out, crossing her arms when the other woman shot her a glare.

"I only live because of this child," Vivienne said, hotly, but Richard interrupted her, his eyes hard.

"It is more compassion than you deserve," he informed her. "Bless that child for all your years, because it is the only thing that is staying my hand."

Vivienne glared at him, but she was smart enough to keep her mouth shut. Rowan, for his part, draped a restraining arm across her shoulders. There was a grave look on his face, and Vivienne shifted uncomfortably under his touch.

_'I wonder how many lifetimes it took Henry and me to move past hatred to love?'_ Paige wondered, some small part of her hoping that it would happen in this lifetime, for this pair.

"We need to go home," Prue said, suddenly, pulling Paige out of her thoughts.

"Prue's right," Piper added, taking Phoebe's spell out of her pocket. "We've done what we came to do."

"Thank you," Richard said, surprising them. "Without you three, I would likely be dead right now." Wrapping a protective arm around Julia's waist, he added, "My child – both of my children – will know of the witches who came from the future to save our kingdom."

"Yes, thank you," Julia added, smiling shyly at them. "You've saved our lives, our future."

"It was the least we could do," Prue said, with her sisters echoing the sentiment.

"I wish there was something we could do for you," Julia continued, plaintively.

"There's something I can do for them," Rowan spoke up, stepping forward. Giving each of the sisters a look, he added, "A glimpse of your future, perhaps?"

"I've seen the future," Paige said, wryly.

"I haven't," Prue said, glibly, offering her hand to Rowan.

Rowan took Prue's hand, his eyes closing for a moment. He released her with a small smile on his face.

"You have been given a second chance at life," he said, quietly. "Use it wisely. Do not let your obligations overwhelm your true passions."

"I won't," Prue promised him.

"There are great honors in your future," Rowan went on. "Your vocation will soar."

Next, he reached out and took Piper's hands, squeezing her fingers, gently.

"I hear the bright laughter of a child," he told her, and a brilliant smile broke across Piper's face. "You have many happy years ahead of you."

"Thank you," Piper said, still smiling at Rowan.

"What about you?" Rowan asked, cocking an eyebrow at Paige. "Surely, you have not seen all your future has to hold?"

"Why not?" Paige shrugged, after some prodding from her sisters. "Maybe Henry and I are going to come into some money in the future, and we'll be able to afford a place of our own."

She held her hand out to Rowan, meeting the man's gaze unflinchingly. His fingers curled around hers, but for some reason, Paige couldn't feel his hand in hers. Startled, she looked down at her hand, watching in amazement as the world disappeared in front of her eyes in a swirl of bright orbs.

When she could see again, she was standing in the middle of the attic.

"What the hell?" she blurted out, looking around at the attic in shock. "How'd we get back? We didn't even use a spell."

Prue and Piper looked just as confused as she was, and Piper finally shrugged, the first to speak up.

"Maybe it was the Elders," she suggested. "They've transported us through time, before."

"Eight hundred years?" Paige asked, skeptically.

"Maybe the spell wore off because we did what we needed to do," Prue said, after a moment. "Melinda Warren ringing any bells?"

"That was the Elders," Piper reminded her.

"Okay, Phoebe killing that baseball player," Prue countered.

"Elders, again," Piper said, ignoring the exasperated glare that her older sister shot her way.

"Speaking of Phoebe," Paige interjected, before a fight could break out between her sisters, "where is she? We left her and Cole standing right over by the Book."

"Who knows how long we've been gone?" Piper pointed out, sensibly. "It could have been hours; they probably went downstairs."

"What if we came back to before we even left?" Prue mused, thinking about Piper's words.

"I don't think that's how time travel works," Piper said, laughing.

"Who knows how time travel works?" Prue retorted.

"Where's Henry?" Paige asked, suddenly, panic filling her when she realized who was missing from the attic. "Why didn't he come back with us?"

Prue and Piper exchanged wary glances.

"Maybe he's already back," Prue offered, weakly.

"Or, maybe we changed too much," Paige snapped, tersely.

She bolted out of the attic, sprinting down the stairs.

"Henry!" she yelled, as she burst into the foyer. "Henry!"

Her husband appeared in the doorway of the kitchen, a stricken expression on his face. He moved to meet her as she rushed across the room, enfolding her in a tight embrace as she wrapped her arms around him, in return.

"I thought I'd lost you," she whispered, brokenly, holding back the sobs that threatened to emerge.

"You almost did," Henry told her, holding on tightly. "We were almost executed. I still don't know how we were saved."

"Thank Paige for convincing the Enchantress to give up her evil ways," Prue spoke up, as she and Piper came into the room.

"Thank Vivienne for being willing to change in the first place," Paige corrected them.

"Yeah," Piper agreed. "Once all of that changed, everything that led to you needing to go back in the past would have changed, too. No execution, thankfully."

"Then, why do I remember everything?" Henry asked, pulling away from Paige, but only far enough to wrap an arm around her waist as she leaned against his side.

"Magic," Piper told him, with a shrug. "You experienced everything, so you'll remember it, even if it no longer happened in the first place. Trust me, once you start looking for a more complex explanation, that's when the headaches start."

"Just be grateful that we're all alive, and that everything turned out okay," Prue added. "And that true love really does conquer all," she added, with an impish grin at Henry and Paige.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Several hours later, Paige was back in the attic. She'd settled on the couch with the Book of Shadows in her lap, looking for the entry on Vivienne. She looked up at the sound of footsteps, smiling when she saw Tyler in the doorway.

"Hey, Mom," he greeted her, as he sat down next to her on the couch, curling up against her side as he looked down at the Book. "Dad said you guys had an adventure, today."

"Yeah, you could say that," Paige replied.

"Man," Tyler complained, "I miss everything at school. Did you really meet a girl from the past?"

"Yes, we did," Paige told him.

Turning a page in the Book, she looked down at the drawing of Vivienne that graced the page. The page opposite had a new entry on it, decorated with a drawing of a young woman with long, dark hair. The intricate script told the story of a young girl who'd grown into a powerful witch.

"Her name was Veda," Paige went on, tapping the page for emphasis. "She was very brave, and she risked her life to save a lot of people…"


	64. Chapter 64

**Author's****Note:** Thanks so much to my amazing beta, **cruelangel101**, for all her help with this chapter. And thanks so much to all my readers and reviewers. You guys are awesome.

**Chapter Sixty-Four**

"This is so boring!"

Paige paused mid-recitation at the interruption to glance back at the trio sitting on the couch. Tyler and Christy on either side of the couch both looked irritated at the disruption, which meant that the culprit, once again, was Billie.

"Problem, Billie?" she asked, calmly, and the fourteen-year-old huffed in annoyance.

"Yeah," she said, flippantly. "All this book stuff is way too much like school. I thought we were going to be learning about magic."

"We are learning about magic," Christy spoke up, before Paige could say anything, shooting her younger sister a pointed look.

"Not the exciting stuff," Billie protested, rolling her eyes. "I thought we'd be learning how to kick demon ass, and stuff."

"More like the demons kicking your ass," Tyler muttered under his breath, blushing when Paige pinned him with a sharp look over his language.

"Tyler's right," she added, looking over at Billie. "Demons are dangerous. And without this 'boring stuff', as you call it, you won't be able to defend yourself. And you will die."

From the uninterested expression on the teenager's face, Paige doubted that she'd made much of an impact on the girl. But, then, Billie had always been the type to have to learn things the most painful way possible. She'd just been hoping to avoid all of that this time around.

She stifled a frustrated sigh as she turned back to the whiteboard that she'd borrowed from Magic School and set up in the middle of the living room. When she'd taken Christy and Billie on as her charges, she'd promised herself that she wasn't going to fail a second time, that she was going to turn the young women into responsible, mature witches. Hence the informal classroom that she'd set up in the living room on a Saturday afternoon when she was sure none of the teenagers wanted to be there.

But, she hadn't counted on Billie's stubborn streak getting in the way. Truth be told, she'd kind of forgotten how hard it had been, the first time, to teach the young witch anything. Billie had never really been excited by studying the more theoretical aspects of their magic, preferring, instead, a more hands-on approach that usually involved putting herself in danger. But, Billie had always managed to come out on top, and, if she was being completely honest with herself, after a while Paige had given up teaching the younger girl anything, just letting her go about things her own way.

_'Yeah,__and__look__how__well__that__turned__out,'_ a cynical little voice in the back of her mind sneered.

Well, things were going to be different this time, Paige vowed to herself. She couldn't afford anything else. None of them could.

Turning her attention back to the trio, Paige did sigh this time when she saw that Billie's gaze had wandered over to the window, and she was staring outside at something Paige couldn't see.

"Is there some place you'd rather be?" she asked, shortly, and Billie blushed, a guilty look crossing her face as she looked back at Paige.

"Sorry," she muttered, sheepishly, and Paige shook her head in exasperation.

"Take a ten minute break," she announced, and both Tyler and Christy looked at her in surprise. "Billie?" she went on. "Can you come with me for a moment?"

Pushing herself up off the couch, Billie followed Paige into the kitchen with a sheepish expression on her face.

"Am I in trouble?" she muttered, not meeting Paige's eyes.

"No," Paige said, her response clearly surprising the girl. "I just want to talk to you."

"About what?" Billie asked, sounding slightly less reticent now that she knew that Paige wasn't mad at her.

"What's going on with you?" Paige asked, nodding her head at the living room when Billie only looked confused. "You're a good kid, Billie. You've got good grades in school, you pay attention in your classes-"

"Yeah, but that stuff is useful," Billie retorted, interrupting her. "Mostly, anyway."

"So is this," Paige pointed out, and Billie's shoulders slumped as she stared back down at the tile floor.

"Not to me," she muttered, under her breath.

"Billie, you're a witch," Paige started, but the girl cut her off.

"No, I'm not," she protested. "Not like you and your sisters, or Christy, or Tyler. I don't have powers, I can't do spells. I'm useless."

"Is that what this is about?" Paige asked, incredulously. "Billie, you are not useless. You're going to get your powers. I promise you that."

"But, when?" Billie demanded. "I hate waiting."

"Just be patient," Paige told her, chuckling. "It took me twenty-four years to manifest my powers. You're not even fifteen, yet."

"Fine," Billie grumped, heaving a sigh. "But, all this stuff is still boring," she muttered, petulantly, clearly not willing to give up on her original argument.

"Boring, huh?" Paige retorted, dryly.

She suspected that she wasn't going to have any better luck winning Billie over with her traditional arguments. So, she went for a more object lesson, instead. Holding out her hand, she concentrated on her empty palm for several long seconds.

"Flower," she said, softly, and Billie jumped backward when a rose materialized in the palm of Paige's hand.

"How did you do that?" she squawked in surprise.

"It's all that boring, theoretical magic I've been trying to teach you," Paige told her. "I'll make you a deal. You pay attention to mine and my sisters' lessons on magic, and actually learn something, and I'll teach you how to do that."

"Done," Billie agreed, a little too quickly, and Paige figured they'd be rehashing the same old arguments in a couple of weeks, or so.

"How did you do that?" Prue spoke up from the doorway, moving aside as Billie dashed past her into the living room. "Last I checked, you couldn't conjure."

"Can't a girl have some secrets?" Paige asked, getting a raised eyebrow in return.

"Spill," Prue said, shortly. "Or-"

She trailed off, threatening, brandishing her mug of probably very hot coffee, and Paige relented.

"It's really nothing more than a parlor trick," she explained. "I was fixing a broken window, one time, and I used abracadabra to repair the glass."

"Abracadabra is not a real spell," Prue pointed out.

"No," Paige agreed, "but I did use one. The whole purpose of spells is to focus our magical energy, right?"

"More or less," Prue said, with a shrug. "We use spells, and the intent behind our words, to shape raw magic."

"And the words, themselves, are a framing device. They're meaningless without magic," Paige added. "Henry could shout a vanquishing spell at the top of his lungs and it wouldn't even scratch a demon."

"What's your point?" Prue prompted, leaning against the counter and facing her younger sister.

"I figured out how to hold a spell in your mind," Paige told her, "and use a trigger word to activate the spell. Magic without the rhyming."

"And how is that a parlor trick?" Prue demanded. "Do you know how much easier it would be if we could vanquish demons by yelling 'Die!' at them?"

"It's completely impractical," Paige argued. "You have to concentrate completely on the spell. You can't let anything, not even something like an itchy nose, distract you from holding the spell in your mind. And the demons aren't going to stop throwing energy balls long enough for you to think of a spell and a trigger word."

"It can't be that hard," Prue insisted, and Paige shrugged, casually.

"Okay," she agreed. "Make the rose vanish."

She pushed the flower across the counter toward her sister.

"Fine," Prue said, setting her coffee cup down. "I will."

She looked down at the rose, her brow furrowing in concentration. For several seconds, nothing happened, and then the flower shot off the counter and hit the far wall, petals raining down to the floor.

"You were supposed to vanish the rose," Paige reminded her. "Not kill it."

Prue leveled her glare on her, next, and Paige fought to keep from laughing at the perturbed expression on her oldest sister's face.

"It took me six months of practicing to do anything like this," she said, as she scooped the flower off the floor and dumped it in the garbage. "Six months to use the Object of Objection spell to fix a broken window."

"I hope the window wasn't broken for six months," Prue teased her, but Paige's reply was cut short by the sound of a yell coming from the other room. Heading through the living room with Prue on her heels, Paige found herself stopping short, staring in amazement at the sight in front of her.

Tyler and Christy were standing in the middle of the room – and Christy was wreathed in flames.

Even as fear made her heart found wildly in her chest, Paige was taking a closer look at the scene. Tyler and Christy both had huge grins stretching across their faces, neither of them seeming to be concerned by the fact that Christy was on fire. Christy even seemed to be laughing.

"I'll go get the fire extinguisher," Prue said, as Paige stared at the teenagers standing in front of her.

"Guys?" Paige prompted, forcing herself to remain calm.

"Mom, this is so cool!" Tyler exclaimed, as soon as he saw her. "Christy and I were talking, and we thought that she might have the same thing that I do, that she's fire resistant."

"Uh huh," Paige said, still trying to wrap her mind around the burning girl in front of her. "And you decided to test this by lighting her on fire?"

"We all did crazy things as a teenager," Prue interjected as she came back into the room. Pulling the pin on the extinguisher, she doused Christy with the white foam. "Part of being a kid, you know?"

"I never lit anyone _on_ _fire_," Paige said, with a pointed glare at her son. "What were you thinking?"

"It was my idea," Christy offered, clearly trying to be helpful.

"I wonder if I can do that," Billie mused, and Paige's eyes bugged out of her head.

"No!" she and Prue yelled, in unison, startling the kids.

"That's not how we test new powers in this house," Prue spoke up, before Paige could say anything. "Next time, talk to one of us before you do anything else like this, okay?"

"Sure," they chorused, and Prue slung an arm over Paige's shoulders, steering her back toward the kitchen.

"Come on," she said, far too cheerfully for Paige's comfort. "Let's let the kids be crazy, huh?"

"Lit her on fire," Paige repeated, emphatically, just in case Prue hadn't heard her the first time.

Before Prue could say anything in reply, they heard the sound of frantic knocking on the front door.

"We're coming!" Prue called out, but that only made the pounding increase. "Hold your horses!"

She pulled the front door open, and then yelped in surprise when a woman toppled over the doorframe and into her arms.

"Paige," Prue gasped, but Paige was already kneeling beside the woman, helping Prue get her rolled over onto her back.

The woman's face and neck were badly burned, the skin blistered and black. Her hands and the front of her shirt were covered in blood, but Paige couldn't find the source of the blood when she felt the woman over quickly for injuries.

"Help us," the woman rasped out, sounding like she was in agony. "He's going to kill us all."

"Who?" Prue demanded, while Paige carefully cradled the woman's head in her hands. "Who's going to kill you?"

"Sykes," the woman breathed, and then she passed out.


	65. Chapter 65

**Author's ****Note:**Thanks a million to my amazing beta, **cruelangel101**, for her help with this chapter. And thanks so much to my fantastic readers and reviewers. You guys are awesome, and I love hearing what you think.

**Chapter Sixty-Five**

As the woman's eyes fluttered shut, Paige gently lowered her head to the hardwood floor, worry in her eyes as she met Prue's gaze.

"Get her arms," Prue said, in answer to the wordless question in her sister's eyes. "I'll get her legs, we'll put her on the couch."

"Tyler, get some blankets," Paige snapped, looking back at the teenagers gathered behind them for a brief second. "Christy, make sure there's a clear path to the couch. Billie, shut the door."

She and Prue carefully lifted the young woman up between them, moving slowly into the living room and laying her on the couch, on top of the blankets that Tyler had placed over the cushions.

"Can you heal her?" Prue asked, as Paige knelt down beside the unconscious woman, and Paige nodded.

"I think so," she said, quietly. "Hold her hands, would you?"

Prue put her hands over the unconscious woman's, anchoring them in place. Paige held her hands out over the woman's chest, a soft, golden glow lighting up her skin. The burns on the woman's skin slowly started to recede, leaving pink, healthy skin behind, and Prue sighed in relief.

"You're handy to have around," she said, but Paige didn't crack even a tiny smile. Her face looked stormy, almost set in stone.

"Do you remember how to make a vanquishing potion for an upper level demon?" she asked, tersely, as she focused on the woman lying on the couch in front of them.

"Of course I do," Prue said, puzzled. "We're going to need some demon flesh-"

"We'll get it," Paige said, shortly.

"Paige, what's going on?" Prue asked, the tense set of her younger sister's shoulders making her worried.

"Where's Phoebe?" Paige asked, instead, not looking away from the woman who was still unconscious on the couch.

"She's at a job interview," Prue said. "Paige, what's wrong?"

"That demon she mentioned? Sykes?" Paige said, nodding at the young woman. "He's dangerous. We need to take care of him, now."

"We could help," Tyler spoke up from behind them, his voice quiet, and Prue jumped. She'd almost forgotten that the kids were there.

"No," Paige snapped, looking back at her son. "No, I don't want you anywhere near this demon. In fact, I want you to go back with Christy and Billie and stay with them."

"I want to stay with you," Tyler insisted. "If things get dangerous-"

"Then I want you far away from here," Paige finished for him, standing and pulling Tyler into a tight hug. "I need to know that you'll be safe. Please."

"Okay," Tyler finally agreed, his arms tightening briefly around Paige before he stepped back. "But, I want to know that you'll be safe, too."

"I will be," Paige promised him. "Come on, let's get you guys out of here."

She slung her arms over Tyler and Christy's shoulders, as Christy pulled Billie against her side. Then, she orbed the three of them away, leaving Prue alone with the young woman.

She wasn't alone for long, though, as a soft moan from the couch drew her attention to where the young woman was waking up. She moved back to the couch, helping the young woman sit up against the cushions.

"Go slow," Prue said, quietly, as the woman started to list downward, again. "You were hurt pretty badly."

"I'm fine," the woman insisted, automatically, and then she looked down at her newly-clean hands as if surprised to see them. "How am I fine?"

"My sister is a Whitelighter," Prue explained, and the woman looked baffled by the statement.

"A Whitelighter?" she echoed, confused. "But – but you're the Charmed Ones. How can one of you be a Whitelighter? Surely, we'd have heard in the community-"

She trailed off as Paige orbed back into the living room, looking at Prue with a slight frown on her face.

"I thought you said that your sister was a Whitelighter," she asked, and Prue nodded in understanding.

"Fourth sister," she explained, as Paige sat down across from the young woman. "Half Whitelighter, half witch."

"That's not allowed," the woman protested, and Paige grinned, ruefully.

"Yeah, well, we're good at breaking rules, around here," she said. "Hi," she went on, offering her hand to the woman. "I'm Paige Matthews."

"Andrea Heller," the woman returned, shaking Paige's hand. Glancing over at Prue, she added, hesitantly, "And, you must be-"

"Prue," Prue finished for her, and the woman nodded, as though satisfied with the answer.

"I always wanted to meet the Charmed Ones," Andrea said, softly. "I just never imagined that this would be the circumstances."

"And what circumstances are those?" Prue prompted, gently. "You said that someone named Sykes was trying to kill you. Kill all of you."

"My coven," Andrea said, after a moment. Hooking a finger under the slim silver chain around her neck, she pulled out a pendant of a pentagram twined around a crescent moon. "Tansy went missing two days ago; Georgiana, a week before that. It's what he does, he picks off covens, one by one, until everyone is dead."

"Who is he?" Prue asked, still confused, but Paige clarified things for her, a second later.

"Sykes is an upper level demon," she said. "When we encountered him the first time, he was after the triple crescent coven."

"Triple crescent?" Andrea echoed, sounding confused. "They haven't been attacked-"

"It's a long story," Prue said, hastily, not wanting to go into Paige's unique background with a stranger. "Anything else?" she prompted Paige.

"He's modeled himself after Balthazar," Paige told her. "The way he kills, who he goes after-"

"And that's why you were worried about Phoebe," Prue said, as realization clicked.

"Yeah," Paige confirmed. "Where is she?"

"She's at the Bay Mirror," Prue reminded her. "That job opportunity you told her about? Advice columnist? Paige, what's wrong?"

"We need to get Phoebe home, now," Paige told her, quietly.

"Paige, we don't even know that Sykes knows about Phoebe," Prue protested. "And you were the one who pushed her to go on this interview; you told her it was a sure thing. Do you really want to pull her away from that?

"I want her alive," came the snapped reply, and Prue sighed.

"I'm sure Phoebe's fine," she said, soothingly. "She's at a job interview. In a very public place. What can possibly go wrong?"

** XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"Thank you so much for taking the time to meet with me."

Phoebe tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear as she took the seat indicated in front of the desk. She smiled at the stern-faced woman sitting across from her, unconsciously drumming the pen she was holding against her leg before she realized what she was doing. Blushing, she forced herself to stop, chuckling nervously for a few seconds, but stopping when the woman's hard demeanor didn't flicker for even a second.

"Phoebe Halliwell, yes?" the woman asked, a no-nonsense tone in her voice, and Phoebe flashed her another nervous smile.

"That's me!" she chirped, a little too loudly, wincing at the overeager sound of her own voice. "And you're Alice, right?" she went on, getting a raised eyebrow in response.

"Elise," came the curt reply, and Phoebe cringed at the not-so-subtle censure in the other woman's voice.

_'Way __to__ go,'_ she scolded herself. _'That's__ the__ way __to __get __hired; __forget__ the __boss's__ name.'_

Sneaking a quick look at her watch, she almost groaned when she saw that it hadn't even been five minutes. She felt like she'd been sitting there, forever.

"So," Elise said, after a moment, glancing down at the piece of paper in front of her, "you graduated from UCSF last year with a Bachelor's Degree in psychology?"

"That's right," Phoebe confirmed, feeling better on solid ground. "I was in the top ten percent of my class, and I graduated with honors."

"Hmm." Elise made a noncommittal noise in the back of her throat, her attention drifting back to Phoebe's resume. "And your last job was nearly three years ago?" she went on. "If I'm reading this correctly, it only lasted for one day."

Phoebe cringed again, remembering her short-lived career as a real estate agent with SWA Properties.

"Yes," she finally said, trying to keep the sheepish tone out of her voice, "the job was for only one day."

"Why'd you leave?" came the inevitable question.

"The owner of the company and I had a difference of opinion," Phoebe said, cautiously, trying to remain as vague and tactful as possible.

"Must have been some opinion," Elise pressed, "if you left after only one day."

"It just wasn't the right job for me," Phoebe finally told her.

Elise made that same noncommittal noise, a second time, turning her attention back to Phoebe's resume, even though Phoebe knew that the document wasn't nearly that long. Phoebe forced herself to sit still, resisting the urge to fidget, nervously. She hooked her ankles together under the chair, to keep from bouncing her leg, and folded her hands tightly in her lap.

_'Sure, __Paige,'_ she thought, cynically, _'this__ interview __is __going __to __be __a__ slam__ dunk.__ Just __like __you __promised.'_

She'd all but given up on finding a job, deciding to focus on magic while her sisters focused on their careers. So, she'd been completely surprised by Paige approaching her two days earlier with the classified section of the _Bay__ Mirror_ in her hand, practically bouncing with excitement over an opening at the newspaper. She'd nagged at Phoebe until she'd promised to send in her resume, promising her that the job was a sure thing. Frustratingly, she'd refused to tell Phoebe why she thought the job was a good match, though.

_'I__ don't __even__ know __why __Paige __thought __this __was __a __good__ idea __in __the __first __place,'_ she thought, but the sound of Elise's voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Yes, sorry?" she asked, blushing at the look she got from the older woman.

"As I was saying," Elise repeated herself, "This position became available after our last columnist left to spend more time with her family. Karen took a faltering column and made it a modest success, and I have had several highly-qualified applicants for this position. Many had very impressive credentials." She paused, and Phoebe felt her spirits start to fall, but then Elise looked up at her with an intense expression in her eyes. "What I don't have," she went on, "is someone with your extensive breadth of experience. Credentials are good, up to a point, but I've found that a good advice columnist has the life experience to back up their words."

"So, you're saying-" Phoebe prompted, when Elise fell silent.

"How does a two week trial sound to you?" the other woman asked, bluntly, and Phoebe's eyes bugged out with surprise.

"You want to hire me?" she blurted out, and Elise chuckled.

"Trial run," she corrected. "We'll run an advice column – your advice column – for two weeks, and the response we get from our readers will determine your future with the paper."

"You – you won't regret this," Phoebe stammered, still staring at the woman in shock. "I – thank you-"

"Don't thank me, yet," Elise said, dryly, reaching out to shake the hand that Phoebe held out to her. "My staff thinks that I don't hear the names they call me behind my back, but I do. And I think I've more than earned some of those names."

She gave Phoebe an almost predatory smile, and Phoebe gulped, wondering exactly what she'd gotten into. She'd run into a few other employees before her interview, and all of them had wished her luck; at the time, she'd assumed for the interview, now she wondered if it was in dealing with Elise.

"Your trial starts tomorrow morning," Elise told her, and Phoebe nodded, automatically. "Nine AM, sharp," she continued. "Don't be late."

"You won't regret this," Phoebe echoed her earlier statement, and Elise laughed, again.

"If I hire you, Ms. Halliwell," she told her, "it's because you earned this job. So, no, I don't think I will regret this."

Phoebe was beaming as she left the office, riding the elevator all the way down to the parking garage. She was walking through the deserted structure, slowing down slightly as she dug through her purse for her car keys, when she heard the faint sound of footsteps on the concrete behind her.

She stopped, glancing automatically behind her, but she didn't see anyone else in the parking garage. She was completely alone, and Phoebe had to laugh at herself when she realized that she was jumping at shadows.

_'Three__ years__ nonstop __fighting __demons,'_ she thought, ruefully, _'maybe __not__ having __my __powers __will __turn __out __to __be __a __good__ thing. __I'll __get __to __have __a__ bit __of __a __break.'_

She kept walking toward her car, and she'd only gone a few more feet when she swore that she could still hear footsteps coming from behind her. And this time, she wasn't imagining anything. When she turned around to look, she still saw nothing, but there was a dark shape reflected in the door of a nearby car.

She picked up the pace to a brisk walk, and to her dismay, the footsteps behind her sped up as well. When she broke into a slow jog, so did her pursuer.

Abandoning all pretense, Phoebe sprinted across the parking garage, up the ramp to the third level where she'd been unfortunate enough to park her car. She could hear the heavy footfalls of someone running behind her, and she'd almost reached her car when a hand landed on her shoulder.

She reacted instinctively, whirling around and tearing away from the grip on her shoulder. She lashed out at her unknown attacker, slamming her closed fist into something that gave under her hand with a grunt of pain. Then, she shoved her attacker away from her and sprinted the last few yards to her car, yanking open the passenger side door of her car, crawling inside, and locking the door behind her.

She'd just scrambled into the driver's seat and jammed her key into the ignition, starting the car, when a tap on the window made her jump. She jerked around, staring in shock at the man standing outside her car, and her first instinct was to slam the car into reverse and gun the engine. But, then she got a closer look at the wallet the man had pressed up against the glass.

The card in the wallet bore came from the superior court, identifying the man as the assistant district attorney, and Phoebe looked up from the card to the still-pained grimace of the man patiently waiting for her response. Taking a deep breath to settle her jangled nerves, Phoebe slowly reached out and shut her car off. Then, as the man stepped back, she unlocked the door and opened it, stepping out of the car.

"You startled me," she said, flatly, getting a weak smile from the man in reply.

"I'd say that much is patently obvious," he said, faintly. "Although, with reactions like that, Ms. Halliwell, I doubt you have anything to fear from an attacker."

"Are you all right?" Phoebe asked, sheepishly, suddenly embarrassed by her own overreaction.

"I'll be fine," the man assured her.

"Um, no offense," Phoebe said, when an awkward silence started to build between the two of them, "but why are you approaching me in the middle of an empty parking garage?"

"Because they told me up in the Bay Mirror that I'd just missed you," the man explained. "Ms. Halliwell, I need your help."

"My help?" Phoebe echoed, dubiously. "No offense, but I don't know how you think I can help you. I'm just an advice columnist – actually, I'm not even that, yet."

"I'm not here for your help as an advice columnist," the man told her. "I need your help as a witch."

Phoebe stepped back at the man's frank words, her eyes darting from side to side as she tried to see a way past the man. She was too close to her car to try getting back in, and she wanted a way to escape. She was really starting to regret her decision to get out in the first place, and she suspected that she should have just taken off when she'd had the chance.

"I – I don't know what you're talking about," she stammered, uneasily.

"Ms. Halliwell," the man continued, "I know that you're a witch. I know," he continued, before she could say anything, "and I need your help. An Innocent is in danger, and I can't save her, alone."

"You're a witch?" Phoebe hazarded a guess, suspiciously, and the man nodded in confirmation.

"I don't have a lot of power," he said, sounding almost embarrassed by the fact, "but I try to do what I can."

Phoebe still didn't believe the man, but she still needed to buy herself some time.

"My cell phone is in my car," she said, trying to stall. "I can call my sisters-"

"There's no time," the man insisted, sounding distressed. "Ms. Halliwell, _please_. You're the only one who can help me."

There was a pleading look in his eyes as he stared at her, and when Phoebe made the mistake of meeting his gaze, she suddenly felt like she was drowning. Her head spun, wildly, and she reached back blindly to cling to the car's door handle, trying not to fall over. A soft fog seemed to fill her mind, making her blank out, and when the fog lifted, she realized that the man was still standing there, waiting for her answer. There was still an Innocent in danger who needed her help.

"What can I do to help?" Phoebe asked, immediately. "Do you know what you're up against; where your Innocent is being held?"

"Follow me to my office," the man said, jerking his head toward the exit. "We can walk; it's just a couple blocks from here."

Phoebe nodded, locking her car as she slung her purse over her shoulder. She followed the man through the parking garage toward the street-level exit, quickening her steps to match his long stride.

"What's your name?" she asked, as they stepped out into the sunlight. "I'm at a disadvantage, here. You know me, but I don't know you."

"Aaron," the man told her, flashing her a shy smile. "My name is Aaron Sykes."


	66. Chapter 66

**Author's Note: **Thanks a million to my amazing beta, **cruelangel101**, for all her help with this chapter. And thanks so much to my fantastic readers and reviewers. I love hearing what you guys think.

**Chapter Sixty-Six**

Phoebe followed Aaron down the street to the apartment building where he worked, the man setting an easy pace as they walked.

"I can't tell you how grateful I am for your help," he told her.

"It's no problem," Phoebe told him, pushing down the little voice that wondered why she was following a complete stranger. There was an Innocent who needed her; that was all that was important. "So, um, if you don't mind me asking-"

"What is it?" Aaron prompted, when she fell silent. "Don't worry, I won't be offended. It's been a dream of mine to meet the great Charmed Ones, actually."

"If there's an Innocent in danger," Phoebe said, still trying to keep from offending the other man, "why are you keeping everything about her in your office?"

"That's probably a bad idea, isn't it?" Aaron said, flushing with embarrassment. "I guess I just didn't think," he admitted. "You're absolutely right; it's not secure."

"I know somewhere that's completely secure," Phoebe spoke up, trying to subtly get Aaron back to the house, where she'd have her sisters around her.

"I've got it," Aaron said, ignoring her comment. "We'll get the stuff out of my office and take it back to my apartment. It's a quiet building, no nosy neighbors, no one will bug us."

"We could talk to my sisters," Phoebe tried, but Aaron shook his head.

"I don't want to bother the Charmed Ones if this turns out to be just some low level thug," he said, with a self-depreciating laugh. "My apartment should be just fine, for research. And if it turns out to be something big, we can always call your sisters."

"Okay," Phoebe agreed, not wanting to press her point and make the other man suspicious. She'd just have to find some other way to get him back to the Manor.

She and Aaron stopped at his office, where he gathered a file folder full of papers, as well as a small wooden box sitting on the edge of his desk. Then, they walked the few blocks to his apartment building, going up to his spacious apartment on the highest floor.

Aaron had been right; up this high in the building, there were no neighbors to hear anything, which was probably a good thing if he was a powerful enough witch to attract demons. He let her into the apartment, stepping aside to let her precede him, and then he led her over to a desk at a corner of the living room that was clearly designated as a workspace.

"So," Aaron started, as he laid the file folder down on the desk, "my Innocent disappeared just a couple days ago. I'm hoping that I caught this one soon enough to find her while she's still alive."

"This one?" Phoebe asked, catching his phrase. "Meaning that there are others who've disappeared?"

"I've done some research," Aaron told her, "and I don't like what I found. Going back years, women would disappear in large groups all over the world, usually about thirteen at a time. They would all be found dead, one after another, and all of them died violently. There would be a few more years of nothing, and then another group of women would go missing."

"Sounds like you found something more than a low-level thug," Phoebe commented, idly, as she rifled through the newspaper clippings that were spread across the desk, her thoughts immediately going to Barbas, and his attempts to escape the Underworld. "But, if this stretches across countries, and even years, what makes you think that they're related?"

"Because all of the women were witches," Aaron told her. "Or, witch practitioners; some of them didn't have powers, they just practiced the Craft. The groups were all covens. Someone's been systematically wiping them out, someone with a lot of anger, and a lot of patience."

_'Well, that rules out Barbas, since he only goes after witches with actual powers. He'd have no use for practitioners.'_ Phoebe thought. Out loud, she asked, "Do you have any leads?"

"It's a long shot," Aaron said, "and really, I don't know if he even exists. I kept finding references to this demon called – Balthazar? Am I pronouncing that, correctly?"

"I think so, yeah," Phoebe answered, forcing herself to keep a straight face at the mention of Cole's alter ego. "Hey, do you have some water? I'm kind of thirsty."

"Yeah, sure," Aaron said, sounding surprised. "I've got some coffee, too, if you want. We might have a long stretch ahead of us."

"That would be great," Phoebe said, smiling gratefully at him.

"I'll be right back," Aaron told her, with an answering grin, and then he disappeared into the kitchen.

Phoebe waited until he was completely out of sight, and then she ducked out of the room and down the hallway. She dug her cell phone out of her pocket, intending to call home and fill her sisters in. She didn't know what she was dealing with, but if this guy really was a witch, and if he really was after Cole-

She shuddered at the thought of losing the man she'd loved. She'd already seen that reality, courtesy of Paige's borrowed memories; she had no desire to go through it, again.

But, before she could start to dial her phone, she heard a faint noise coming from behind one of the doors that had her freezing in her tracks. She put her ear to the door, listening intently, and she could definitely hear the faint sound of scuffling from inside the room. When she tried the door, it was unlocked, but she snuck a glance down the hallway before pulling a couple of bobby pins out of her hair and straightening them out.

_'This is stupid,'_ she scolded herself, as she worked to pick the lock. _'You're probably about to meet his grumpy old cat.'_

When the tumblers clicked, she slipped the bobby pins back into her pocket and carefully eased the door open, praying the whole time to find something completely innocent. Her hopes were dashed when she stepped into the room and found herself staring at a pair of women who were chained to the floor. One of the women, scraggly blonde hair obscuring her features, was lying unconscious with her head in the other woman's lap. The second woman was still conscious, her face pale beneath dusky skin, but her eyes blazing with fury, and her arms tightened protectively around the first woman before she saw who was standing in front of them.

"Please," the woman pleaded, her eyes wide with terror. "Please, help us."

"What happened to you?" Phoebe demanded, as she rushed forward.

"Sykes," the woman whispered, fearfully. "He-"

Her eyes went impossibly wide as she stared at something over Phoebe's shoulder, and Phoebe whirled around to see Aaron – no, Sykes – standing in the doorway behind her. He'd lost his earlier, friendly smile, and his eyes were cold and hard.

"Well, that certainly didn't take you long," he commented. "I was actually kind of hoping that our little charade would last longer than this; I was having fun."

"What are you doing?" Phoebe demanded, and Sykes gave a humorless laugh.

"I'd think that much would be obvious," he drawled. "But, if you really need it pointed out to you-"

"What do you want?" Phoebe cut him off, and annoyance flashed in Sykes' dark eyes.

"To wipe every last one of you off the face of the earth," he answered. "Starting with those two."

Phoebe glared at him, stepping forward, menacingly, in an instinct to protect the other women.

"Paige!" she bellowed, praying for the tell-tale flash of orbs, but Sykes just chuckled at her.

"This place is warded," he told her, sounding amused. "Your Whitelighter can't hear you, here. Scrying is blocked, too, so don't think that your sisters are going to find you, that way."

"I will vanquish you," Phoebe threatened, furiously, but Sykes shook his head.

"Get comfortable, witch," he told her. "You're going to be here for a while."

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

After setting Andrea up in the kitchen with a cup of tea, Prue dragged a still-tense Paige out of the kitchen and into the living room. She positioned herself where she could still keep an eye on Andrea, just in case the woman was attacked by the mysterious Sykes, and then she crossed her arms over her chest and fixed Paige with a stern look.

"All right," she said, calmly. "Spill it."

"Spill what?" Paige demanded, impatiently. "I already told you, Sykes is a demon, he's dangerous, Phoebe's in danger-"

"That's not what I'm talking about," Prue told her, getting a glare in return. "I want to talk about why you're so jumpy, lately."

"We don't have time for this," Paige gritted out, antsy as she shifted her weight from foot to foot. She was so wound up that just sitting still was clearly driving her crazy.

"I think that we need to make time for this," Prue said, implacably, not willing to let Paige's restlessness affect her. "Come on, talk to me."

"Nothing to talk about," Paige said, her shoulder twitching in a jerky shrug. "I want to vanquish a demon, and I don't understand why you're fighting me on this. I thought you, out of everyone, would be right there with me."

"Okay, I'll start," Prue said, brightly, ignoring Paige's comment. "Let's talk about why you sent Tyler, Christy, and Billie away, just now."

"You're going to get on my case for protecting my son?" Paige demanded, incredulously.

"I just think you're being overprotective," Prue said, choosing her words, carefully, to avoid further pissing off her clearly-volatile sister. "Paige, demons are a part of our lives. You can't reasonably expect to be able to wrap Tyler in cotton and shield him from everything that comes our way."

"I can try," Paige muttered, a mulish tone in her voice, and Prue sighed.

"Sooner or later, your son is going to find himself facing a demon," she argued. "Smothering him isn't going to keep him safe. But, if you teach him how to responsibly use his powers-" She let her voice trail off, hoping to see some sign with Paige that her sister was absorbing anything that she was saying. "Or," she went on, quietly, hoping that what she was about to try wasn't going to wildly backfire, "You could give him up. Bind his powers and send him to live with mortals, isn't that what you did the first time? That would keep him off demonic radar, forever."

Paige glared at Prue, fury burning in her eyes. Her hands were clenched into tight fists, and she looked pissed. Yeah, major backfire.

"I am not going to lose my son," she snarled, and Prue took an instinctive step back, holding her hands up, defensively.

"I wasn't serious," she said, quickly. "I was trying to get you to see reason." She sighed as the rage in Paige's expression faded to something slightly less than homicidal. "Look, Paige, you can't protect Tyler, forever. But, you can teach him to protect himself."

"I can't lose my son," Paige repeated, pain making her voice crack, and Prue thought that they'd finally hit on the real issue at hand.

"When we cast that spell that took away your memories," she said, softly, carefully, "I saw what happened after your battle with Future Billie and Christy. Paige, I felt-"

"I know what you felt." Paige cut her off, abruptly, her voice clipped and distant. "I was there, remember? It was my memory. One that I'd rather you hadn't seen at all," she muttered, clearly not intending for Prue to hear her.

"Paige, if I could forget what I saw, I would," Prue said, an entreating tone in her voice. "But, I can't. And I really think that you should talk about this."

"Well, I don't," Paige snapped, angrily. She crossed her arms tightly over her chest, but Prue still noticed the faint tremor of her hands. "I do not need to talk about this," she went on, coldly. "I am fine. And, now, I am going to go upstairs and start scrying for our demon."

"Yeah, I can see how fine you are," Prue muttered, under her breath, as she watched her baby sister stalk upstairs.

Pulling her cell phone out of her pocket, she went to dial Henry's number, but stopped when she realized that she didn't know. And she doubted that Paige was in any mood to tell her. So, she hit Darryl's number on her speed dial, listening to the phone ring before the man picked up.

"Hey, Prue," he greeted her, cheerfully. "Don't tell me my new favorite Whitelighter forgot to charge his cell phone, again?"

"I'm not trying to get a hold of Andy," Prue told him. "I was actually hoping you'd be able to put me in touch with Henry."

"Mitchell?" Darryl asked, as if she could be asking about anyone else. "Why can't you just ask Paige for his cell phone number?"

"Because I kind of pissed her off," Prue admitted, and Darryl chuckled.

"Hoping to defuse the bomb?" he asked, wryly, and Prue grinned in agreement.

"Something like that," she answered. "Is he there?"

Darryl didn't answer, directly. Instead, Prue heard the background noises become more distinct as Darryl pulled the phone away from his ear. There was something that sounded like a door opening, and then she heard Darryl's bellow of "Mitchell!" that had her jumping in surprise. A few moments later, there was the sound of faint footsteps, and then the phone was passed from hand to hand.

"Prue?" Henry asked, and he sounded distinctly worried. "What's wrong? Is it Paige?"

"She's not hurt," Prue rushed to reassure him. _'Physically, anyway,'_ she thought, flushing guiltily as she thought about what she knew, that he didn't.

But, she knew that Paige would never forgive her if she told Henry her secret; she could only hope that Paige finally opened up to Henry on her own, before the weight of it crushed her.

"She is kind of obsessed with this latest demon, though," she explained. "And my attempt to rein her in failed, so I'm passing the ball to you."

"How obsessed are we talking, here?" Henry asked, and Prue carefully considered her next words.

"Did Paige ever tell you about how, after I died in the original timeline, Piper went crazy hunting demons?" she finally asked.

There was a moment of silence, and then Henry said, "I'll be home in a few."

The phone went dead in her ear before Prue could ask for clarification, whether he meant a few minutes, a few hours-

The bright swirl of orbs that formed into two men answered her question, as she found herself looking at Henry and Andy. A few seconds, then.

"She's up in the attic," Prue said, gesturing at the stairs before Henry could say anything. "And she's already started scrying."

Henry nodded, wordlessly, taking the stairs two at a time. Prue turned her attention away from his disappearing form to find Andy watching her, a curious expression on his face.

"What?" she asked.

"Anything I should know?" he asked, and Prue shrugged.

"Paige is a little stressed out, right now," Prue told him, prevaricating. "She's got some stuff on her mind, and this sudden demon thing isn't helping."

"What can I do?" Andy asked, immediately, and Prue grinned. Dying hadn't changed him in the least.

"You can help Andrea and me with this vanquishing potion," she told him. "But, first, I'm going to call Phoebe, so that I can reassure Paige that she really is all right."

She dialed her phone, listening to it ring before Phoebe picked up, sounding distracted when she spoke.

"Hey, Pheebs," she greeted her sister. "How was the interview?"

"I got the job," Phoebe told her. "On a conditional basis, anyway."

"So, you're okay?" Prue pressed, lightly, trying not to arouse Phoebe's suspicions. "Nothing exciting happened?"

"Should something have happened?" Phoebe asked, and Prue sighed.

"There's a demon on the loose," Prue told her, "and Paige thinks you might be in danger."

"I'm fine," Phoebe said, with a weak chuckle. "Tell her to stop worrying so much. It's going to give her wrinkles."

"Yeah, I think that's going to take a small miracle," Prue muttered. "Hey, look, are you coming home any time soon? I want to be able to tell Paige you're not lying dead in a ditch, somewhere."

"Actually," Phoebe said, "I met a couple of friends from school and we're going out for coffee. You remember Janna and Leeza, right?"

"Janna and Leeza?" Prue echoed, getting a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. "Pheebs-"

"We've got a lot to catch up on," Phoebe went on, breezily, cutting Prue off, "so I don't know how long I'll be gone. I'll see you later, okay, and, hey, don't let Tyler eat all of those cookies that Piper baked. Save some for me."

The phone went abruptly dead in Prue's ear, and she pulled it away, looking down at it with a frown.

"What's going on?" Andy prompted, when Prue remained silent.

"I think Paige was right," Prue told him, slowly.

"You think a demon is going to go after Phoebe?" Andy guessed, but Prue shook her head.

"I think one already did," she answered.


	67. Chapter 67

**Author's Note: **Thanks a million to my fantastic readers and reviewers. I love hearing what you guys think. And thanks to my amazing beta, **cruelangel101**, for all her help with this story.

**Chapter Sixty-Seven**

Phoebe clicked her phone off and shut it, glaring at Sykes, who was standing in front of her. The demon held his hand out for her phone, and Phoebe dropped it into his palm without touching him.

"Happy?" she demanded, her voice heavy with sarcasm. "My family has no idea where I am."

"They'd better not," Sykes said, looking steadily at her. "If you warned them in some way-"

"You listened to the entire conversation!" Phoebe snapped at him, her eyes flashing with fury. "I didn't say anything to tip them off."

"You're a Charmed One," Sykes fired back. "I'm sure you've gotten some tricks up your sleeves over the years. But," he went on, after a moment, "no matter. Even if you did manage to get them some kind of message, they won't be able to find you. Not with this place as shielded as it is."

Pocketing her cell phone, he gestured to the floor, where the other women were still chained up.

"Get over there," he ordered, brusquely. "On the floor next to the other two."

Phoebe glared at him, wishing fervently for her powers back. Or, one of her sisters' powers, rather. She would have given anything to be able to use Piper's power to blow the demon back to Hell. She hated the overwhelming feeling of being utterly powerless, and for the first time, she wished that she'd just ignored the Elders' doom and gloom prophecy of her potential fate as the Source of all Evil. If she'd stayed a witch, she and her sisters could have done something to prevent that fate; here, now, as nothing more than a mere mortal, she had no way to help the women who were depending on her to save their lives.

She crossed the room next to the other women, sitting down on the floor beside them. Sykes opened a trunk on the far side of the room, producing a new set of manacles that he used to chain Phoebe to the floor. Then, he smirked down at her, a cold smile on his face.

"You surprised me, witch," he said, conversationally. "I didn't think that you were going to fall for my little ruse in the parking garage. I mean, it was so transparent! An idiot could see through that stupid story."

"It's called having faith in people," Phoebe growled, angrily, and Sykes chuckled.

"And, yet, here you are," he taunted, "chained up like a dog. How's that faith working out for you, now?"

"I am going to kill you," Phoebe swore, but Sykes didn't even look fazed by her threat.

"I have some business to take care of," he said, breezily, as he spun on his heel and walked back to the door. "But, don't you worry. I'll be back, shortly, and then we can start having some real fun."

The hallway was filled with his booming laugh as he shut and locked the door behind him, and Phoebe glared daggers at his retreating back. Then, she moved, testing the resistance of the chains holding her to the floor.

"We're getting out of here," she said, and the woman who was still conscious snorted out an incredulous laugh.

"Right," she drawled, derisively. "And how do you plan on accomplishing that? In case you haven't noticed, we're chained to the floor, and Georgie's unconscious. She's in no shape to be going anywhere."

"First things first," Phoebe replied. "We're going to get out of these chains."

She tried to get the bobby pins out of her pocket, but the way her hands had been secured behind her back made that impossible, no matter how she contorted herself.

"Can you reach into my pocket?" she asked, getting a raised eyebrow from the other woman in response. "Lock picks," she snapped, before the other woman could say anything. "They're in my pocket, and I need to get them out. How do you think I got in this room in the first place?"

"Which pocket?" the other woman muttered, and Phoebe shifted around until her right hip was close to the woman's hands.

The woman managed to fumble the bobby pins out of her pocket, dropping them on the floor in the process. Phoebe refused to let it discourage her, scrabbling at the floor with her fingers until she'd managed to find the bobby pins. Working carefully, she rolled the pins up her fingers into the palm of her right hand. Then, she froze.

What had seemed like a good idea in theory was kind of fizzling out in practice. Picking the locks on the chains holding them to the floor would have been a piece of cake – if she'd been able to see the locks. She couldn't even pick the locks on her fellow captives' chains because of the way her hands were restrained behind her back.

_'I don't even know if it's possible to pick a lock without being able to see it,'_ she thought, her shoulders slumping as she saw her short-lived plans for escaping fizzle and die.

Then, she jumped as she felt a cold hand wrap around her wrists. She craned her head around to see the formerly-unconscious woman holding onto her wrists, and then she watched in amazement as the manacles on her wrists simply melted away, leaving only the slightly-reddened skin underneath.

"That is so awesome," she declared, and the woman smiled at her, faintly, slumping back against her companion.

"Just like Tans," she mumbled, her eyes drooping shut with exhaustion. "You've got to do things the hard way."

"Well, not all of us have the power to melt things with our bare hands," the second woman said, an affectionately teasing tone in her voice. Shooting Phoebe a hard look, her voice completely changed as she demanded, "You want to get us out of here, now?"

"Don't mind her," the blonde woman spoke up, quietly, her eyes still closed. "Rude is her second nature. I'm Georgiana," she went on, cracking her eyes open to meet Phoebe's gaze for a moment. "She's Tansy."

"Phoebe Halliwell," Phoebe introduced herself, as she turned her attention to picking the locks of Georgiana and Tansy's chains. To Tansy, she added, "I've got a couple of sisters that you'd get along great with."

She got the locks open, quickly, helping Tansy get Georgiana into a sitting position against the wall, mindful of how weak the other woman still was. Sitting back, she watched as Tansy fussed over her friend, anxiety written in every line on her face.

"So," Phoebe asked, "if you can melt things with your mind, how did Sykes get his hands on you in the first place?"

"Caught me by surprise," Georgiana said, a rueful tone in her voice. "He approached me, asked to talk. Stupidly, I went with him, and he knocked me out. The next thing I knew, I was chained up, here."

"Bet that didn't last long," Tansy commented, getting a snort from the other woman.

"About as long as it took me to melt the first set of chains," came the response. "Unfortunately, Sykes was smart enough to anticipate that."

"What did he do?" Phoebe asked, concerned. "How did he keep you from using your powers?"

"See that baseball bat in the corner?" Georgiana asked, wearily, and Phoebe followed her gaze to the object resting in the corner of the room. "Yeah," she finished, in response to the unspoken question in Phoebe's eyes. "It turns out that being beaten is an effective deterrent to trying to escape."

"Sykes got me the same way," Tansy spoke up, her eyes hard with remembered anger. "He introduced himself, told me that he wanted to talk to me about Georgie's disappearance, that he had some new leads. And like an idiot, I followed him."

"Parking garage," Phoebe said, ruefully. "I don't think he was trying to abduct me; I think he was actually trying to kill me, at first."

"Lucky you," Tansy muttered, dryly.

"Then, when it looked like I was getting away," she went on, "he changed his tactics and recruited me to help him rescue you."

"That's bold," Georgiana murmured. "So, what are we going to do to vanquish this son of a bitch? Because I have to tell you, I'm getting really tired of him."

"You and me, both," Tansy growled.

"Well, from the looks of it," Phoebe said, "Sykes blocked magic from coming in and out of the room. But, he didn't stop magic inside the room, itself, otherwise Georgiana wouldn't have been able to melt my chains."

"Call me George," the other woman interjected. "Only our High Priestess and my mother use Georgiana. It makes me feel like I'm in trouble."

"George, right," Phoebe corrected herself. "So, you've got that melting thing. Tansy?"

"Passive telepathy," the other woman muttered, sounding disgusted with herself. "I can read minds, but I can't influence them."

"We could still work with that," Phoebe pointed out.

"What about you?" Tansy demanded, looking at her. "Sykes called you a Charmed One; please tell me that you're the one who can freeze time."

"Blow things up, too," George spoke up. "Heard it through the grapevine. Cool power."

"That's my sister, Piper," Phoebe told them, and both women looked temporarily disappointed.

"Telekinesis?" George suggested, a hopeful note in her voice, but Phoebe shook her head.

"That would be Prue," she replied.

"So, premonitions can still be useful," Tansy said, sounding about as pleased with that as she had her own telepathy.

"Actually," Phoebe said, slowly, "Paige has that one. Temporarily," she added, when the women looked at her, incredulously.

"Geez," Tansy muttered, under her breath, "how many of you people are there, anyway?"

"Just four of us," Phoebe replied. "It's kind of a long story."

"So, if your sisters have all the powers," Tansy spoke up, "that makes you powerless, doesn't it? How is that going to help us?"

The other woman's comment echoed Phoebe's earlier thoughts, but she wasn't about to say that, out loud.

"Not powerless," she corrected, hoping that she sounded more confident than she felt. "Just without powers. It's a temporary situation. Look, here's what we're going to do…"


	68. Chapter 68

**Author's Note: **Thanks a million to my amazing beta, **cruelangel101**, for her help with this story. And thanks to my readers and reviewers, you guys are awesome.

**Chapter Sixty-Eight**

Reaching the top of the stairs, Henry pushed the attic door open. Paige was sitting in the middle of the floor, bent over a map of San Francisco with a scrying crystal in her hands. She was swinging the crystal in a slow, large circle over the surface of the map, with a frustrated look on her face.

"Hey, honey," Henry said, lightly, but Paige still jumped at the sound of his voice, and he could clearly see the tense line of her shoulders.

"Hey," she returned, sounding distracted. "What are you doing home from work?"

"Just on my lunch break," Henry lied, casually. "Figured I'd come home and see you. Heard you caught a demon hunt?"

"Yeah," Paige replied, without looking away from the map.

"Anything I can do to help?" Henry offered, and Paige's eyes flicked up towards him for the briefest second.

"Book of Shadows," she said, jerking her head toward the lectern. "Demon called Sykes."

"Am I looking for anything in particular?" Henry asked, as he started flipping through the pages of the Book.

"I just want to make sure I have everything down before I go hunting this demon," Paige said, and Henry's eyebrows flew up into his hairline at her continued use of the singular.

_'Oh, hell no,'_ his own stubborn streak rising to meet Paige's. _'You are not going after this thing, alone.'_

"We, kemosabe," Henry corrected her, as he turned his attention back to the Book. "I'm coming with you. Or, you're taking Prue, or we're calling Piper home from work."

"Prue's working on the vanquishing potion, and Piper's busy," Paige protested. "And what's with the sudden urge to go demon hunting with me?" she added, looking up at him, and he pasted an innocent expression on her face, to meet her suspicious gaze.

"More like an urge to keep you from getting hurt," Henry told her. "Besides, other couples have date nights, we have demon vanquishes."

Paige just sighed, shaking her head in exasperation as she turned her attention back to the map. Henry fell silent as he continued to flip through the pages of the Book. Then, he made a surprised noise that had Paige glancing up at him.

"What's with this page on the Kevmay?" Henry asked, spinning the pedestal around and tipping the Book up for Paige to see. "There's marker all over it."

"Oh, that was Piper," Paige told him, glancing at the page for a second before going back to the map on the floor. "She went on a demon vanquishing spree after Prue died –" She paused, at that, confused look on her face. "Would have died?" she tried out, looking up at Henry to see what he thought of it.

"Don't look at me," Henry told her. "Time travel is confusing enough as it is, without trying to warp the rules of the English language around it."

"Anyway," Paige continued, with a shrug, "that was her way of keeping track of her vanquishes."

"By vandalizing the Book?" Henry asked, skeptically. "I'm surprised that your Grams stood for that."

"Look up the Necromancer," Paige told him, and Henry was pleased to see a hint of a smile on her face. "It's near the back of the Book."

Henry flipped to the back, reading the page in question. Then, he shot Paige a disbelieving look.

"Am I reading this, correctly?" he asked, incredulously.

"Oh, yeah," Paige replied, with a smirk.

"Your grandmother did the dirty with a dead demon?" Henry spluttered, and Paige let out a genuine laugh at the astonished look on his face.

"Well," Paige hedged, "in her defense, he wasn't dead at the time."

"Still," Henry protested. "With a demon?"

"It was a long time ago," Paige said, shrugging. "Besides, Cole is a demon, and I don't see you getting offended on Phoebe's behalf."

"Well, Cole is Cole," Henry said, philosophically. "Besides, Phoebe would kick my ass."

"And Grams wouldn't?" Paige muttered, wryly.

"Grams adores me," Henry said, confidently, turning his attention back to the demon at hand. "Hey, I found your demon."

"Good, because I'm not finding him, here," Paige muttered, glaring down at the map like it had personally offended her. "I don't understand why this isn't working."

She scowled, dropping the scrying crystal onto the map, and it was clear that her good mood had only been a temporary reprieve. Henry still remembered what Paige had told him about the time that Piper had gone off the rails after Prue's death; more than just marking up the Book, she'd been almost suicidally reckless in her demon-hunting zeal. And he had no desire to see Paige go down the same path.

"Hey, why don't you take a break?" he suggested, smiling disarmingly at Paige when she scowled at him.

"I need to find this demon," she said, shortly.

"I know," Henry replied. "But, you can't really do anything until the vanquishing potion is done, right?"

"Right," Paige grudgingly confirmed.

"And Prue is working on the potion, which is probably going to take a while," Henry pointed out. "So, it looks to me like we've got some free time on our hands."

Paige looked at him, again, her gaze sharp. Then she sighed, visibly relaxing in place.

"Prue called you home from work, didn't she?" she asked, ruefully. "She's the one who told you about Sykes?"

"Yeah," Henry agreed, and Paige shook her head.

"She told you that she thought I was acting a little crazy?" she asked.

"Something like that," Henry replied. "But, I'm serious about that break. Come on; let's go downstairs and look at those apartment pamphlets for a bit."

Paige nodded, wordlessly, holding out her hand and letting Henry pull her to her feet. They stepped around the map as they headed for the attic door, and Henry wrapped an arm around Paige's shoulders in a one-armed hug.

"So," he said, as they descended the stairs and headed for the living room, "I kind of liked those apartments we looked at in Buena Vista."

Paige made a noncommittal noise, shrugging. "They were okay, I guess. Kind of far away."

"You can orb," Henry reminded her. "We could move to the other side of the country, and you'd still be able to see your sisters in a heartbeat."

"Do you want to move to the other side of the country?" Paige asked, a doubtful look on her face, and Henry hastened to reassure her.

"Not at all; I love your sisters, you know that," he replied. "I just think that the sooner we stop cramming three of us into the spare bedroom, the better."

"Definitely," Paige said. "I'm just not sure about Buena Vista."

"Okay," Henry suggested, easily. "Our old place is empty."

"Before or after we travelled back in time?" Paige asked.

"Before," Henry told her. "Remember the apartment we moved into after we got married?"

"We had a hard enough time stuffing the two of us in that old closet," Paige reminded him. "Let alone us, and a growing teenage boy."

"Old apartment is out, got it," Henry said.

"Why does it even have to be an apartment?" Paige asked, after a moment. "I mean, it'll be good for a while, but what about when Tyler gets older? Or-" and a flash of something like pain crossed her face, "if we decide to expand our family. I don't want to keep apartment hunting for years on end."

"You've got a point," Henry replied. "You know, Mrs. Donaldson's house is still for sale."

"Still?" Paige asked. "It's been over a month. You think we should make an offer?"

"Couldn't hurt to look at the place," Henry told her. "And, all these old Victorians are pretty much the same, so we know what the layout's going to look like."

"And it's right next door," Paige mused.

"Can't get any closer to your sisters without actually staying in the Manor," Henry pointed out. "Which, not to rush you or anything, but I'm getting tired of getting yelled at over the lack of hot water every morning."

"It would be nice to be able to spread out," Paige said, wistfully. "Give Tyler his own room, get our own room, back-"

"So, we're agreed," Henry said. "After we wrap this demon up, we'll talk to the realtor."

A noise from behind them had both of them turning around, to see Prue hovering in the doorway.

"Heard you guys talking," she said. "Andrea, Andy, and I are still working on the vanquishing potion. We're out of mandrake."

"I'll orb to Chinatown," Paige offered, and Prue grinned, tossing Paige her purse.

"Great," she said, brightly. "And, hey, can you pick up some pig's feet, eye of newt, some hellebore-"

"We just restocked that potions cabinet," Paige complained. Turning to Henry, she added, "Biggest reason to move out, I get my own, private potions stock."

"I made a list," Prue offered, and Paige snatched the piece of paper from her hand.

"You and Piper are paying me back," she muttered, and then she orbed away in a swirl of bright lights.

Henry watched her go, and then he turned his attention back to Prue.

"What was that about?" he asked, shooting Prue an exasperated look when she tried to appear innocent. "You just got rid of Paige."

"Maybe," Prue conceded, after a moment. "Look, I think Phoebe might be in danger."

"And, so you send one third of the Power of Three on a wild goose chase?" Henry asked, incredulously. "Far be it from me to question your demon-hunting methods, but-"

"Sykes is an Upper Level demon who can be vanquished with a potion," Prue argued. "We don't need the Power of Three. And Paige has a lot on her plate, right now. I'm just trying to lessen the load."

"By lying to her?" he asked, in disbelief. "You can't possibly think that this is going to end well."

"So long as it ends with the demon dead, and my sisters safe," Prue argued, stubbornly, and Henry sighed. "Look," Prue went on, "we can track Sykes down and vanquish him, and have Phoebe home, safely, before Paige ever gets back from shopping. And then we can go about our normal lives."

"I'm not going to lie to my wife," Henry argued, hotly.

"We're protecting Paige from herself," Prue insisted.

"And there's no way this can possibly come back to bite us in the ass," Henry muttered, under his breath. Louder, he added, "Fine. What can I do to help?"

"I'm glad you asked," Prue replied, with a grin. "You get to distract Paige and keep her away from the house if Chinatown doesn't take long enough."

"And be the first person she yells at when she finds out what we're doing," Henry reminded her. "Honestly, I think I'd rather deal with the demon."


	69. Chapter 69

**Author's Note: **As always, thanks to my amazing beta reader, **cruelangel101**, and to my awesome readers.

**Chapter Sixty-Nine**

Paige didn't orb to Chinatown; at least, not at first. She had a stop to make before she did.

She materialized on the front porch of the Jenkins' Nebraska home, lifting her hand to knock, but then she hesitated. She couldn't explain the sudden fear that coursed through her at the thought of seeing her son, freezing her in her tracks.

_'Demons could find him, even here,'_ kept running through her mind, and the thought nearly paralyzed her with terror. She couldn't bear the thought of losing her son, couldn't imagine life without him in it.

The door in front of her suddenly opened, and she jerked backward, startled, almost falling off the porch. The only thing that saved her was Helen Jenkins' quick reflexes as she reached out and grabbed Paige's arm to keep her from falling.

"Dare I ask why you're lurking on my porch like some kind of specter?" Helen asked, before Paige could speak, but she didn't sound angry, only curious.

"I – um – I," Paige started, and then she trailed off, awkwardly, unsure how to finish her sentence. Luckily, Helen seemed to understand, and she took pity on Paige.

"Do you want to sit down?" she asked, nodding at the porch swing, and Paige let herself be tugged down onto the seat. "You adopted Tyler a short while ago didn't you?" Helen continued.

"About a month ago," Paige replied, quietly.

"And he's your first child?" Helen pressed, and Paige nodded, wordlessly, swallowing around the lump that sprang into her throat. "Is this the first time he's been threatened by a demon?" Helen asked, after a moment, and Paige was momentarily taken by surprise, until she remembered that she'd told the Jenkins everything when she'd returned Christy to them.

"Not the first time," Paige replied, and the admission had the fear rising up inside her, again. "He wasn't even threatened, I just-"

"Panicked?" Helen finished for her, knowingly, when she trailed off.

"That's a good word for it," Paige replied.

"You know," Helen said, "it's been seventeen years, but I still remember how terrified I was when we took Christy home from the hospital that first night. Travis drove too fast, we were too far away from the nearest hospital, the house was too drafty – I must have had a list a mile long. All night, I sat up in bed, listening to Christy breathe over the baby monitor, jumping at every tiny sound."

She trailed off, clearly lost in the memory. Paige remembered Piper doing the same thing the first night after Wyatt had been born – and her own attempts at keeping Phoebe from it, as well. After a moment, Helen shook herself back to the moment and continued with her story.

"Travis slept through the whole thing, the jerk," she said, with a fond smile. "We very nearly divorced over the matter. But, in the morning, there I was, dark circles under my eyes and so exhausted that I could barely stay on my feet. And there was my beautiful little girl, well-rested and completely fine. Nothing had happened to her, and eventually, I learned to sleep through the night, as well."

"Are you saying that I need to learn to relax?" Paige asked, wryly.

"From one mother to another," Helen confided. "Paige, you gave me the greatest gift, ever. You brought my baby girl back to me after I thought she'd been lost, forever. All I can offer you is some advice. I know it's terrifying, believe me. We tell our kids that the monsters in the closet aren't real, but you don't have that luxury. But you can't let that fear rule your life."

"How do you stop it?" Paige asked, softly. "When Christy-" she stopped, not wanting to dredge up bad memories, but Helen just smiled at her, encouragingly, as though knowing what she wanted to ask. "When Christy was taken, how did you-"

"How did I survive?" Helen finished, knowingly. "I very nearly didn't," she said, softly. "My world had shattered in an instant, and I fell apart. I'd lost one child, and I would be damned if I was going to lose another. I kept Billie so close to me that I was practically smothering her. It took me years to learn to let go enough to let her live her own life."

"How'd you do it?" Paige asked.

"Someone very wise told me that protecting our children is more than keeping them safe," Helen told her. "It's showing them how to be strong. My mother-in-law," she added, in response to Paige's unspoken question. "She raised seven boys."

"Wow," was all Paige could say, and Helen chuckled.

"You've got an amazing kid, there," Helen went on, nodding back at the house.

"I just can't stand the thought of losing him," Paige said, quietly. "I've made so many mistakes – I don't want him to be one of them."

"Don't let the fear rule your life," Helen repeated, emphatically. "Take one day at a time. It does get easier, I promise."

Paige nodded, wordlessly, standing up from the swing and pacing to the end of the porch.

"Do you mind if Tyler stays here for a while?" she asked.

"Go get your demon," Helen told her, with a small smile. "I'll keep your boy safe, here."

"Thank you," Paige said, fervently, and then she orbed away.

She landed in a secluded alleyway in Chinatown, ducking out onto the street. She went to the apothecary they frequented for their potions supplies, handing Zhiu Li the list and chatting with the younger woman while she got the supplies, and stowed them safely away in her purse. Then, she raised an inquisitive eyebrow at the small vial the Chinese witch placed solemnly on the counter.

"There are very few potions that these ingredients can make," Zhiu Li said, meeting her gaze, unflinchingly. "You are a Halliwell; that list becomes even smaller."

"So, this?" Paige prompted.

"Is the base for a vanquishing potion," came the answer. "All you require is the flesh of the demon."

"Sure," Paige grumbled, "leave me the hard part. Hey, can I borrow a knife?"

In reply, Zhiu Li pulled a slim black cloth roll out from underneath the counter. She unrolled it across the glass, revealing a varied selection of thin, deadly daggers.

"You drive your Whitelighter up the wall, don't you?" Paige asked, dryly, as she selected a dagger and slid it into the sheath that her fellow witch held out to her. With Zhiu Li's help, she fastened the sheath around her forearm, tugging her sleeve down to hide it.

"Every day," Zhiu Li chuckled. "If you scratch that knife," she added, fiercely, "you are buying it. Good luck, and good hunting. Tell your sisters I said hello."

Paige nodded in thanks, going out of the door and back onto the street. She ducked into the first alleyway she found, finding a hiding spot behind a dumpster at the far end, and then she orbed.

She didn't orb back to the Manor, and she knew that when her sisters found out what she was up to, they were going to yell at her, probably for a very long time. But, they were just going to have to deal with it. She'd already put Phoebe on Sykes' radar by encouraging her to go to that damn job interview; she wasn't going to put Piper and Prue out there, as well.

_'With the potion, I don't need the Power of Three,'_ she thought, determinedly. _'I don't need to put them in that kind of danger.'_

She pushed aside the little, nagging voice in the back of her mind that told her that she and her sisters were stronger as a team. The little voice that reminded her of the times that she tried taking on Zahn, the Montana-Calloway feud, the demonic market –

_'Trying to prove yourself,'_ another little voice spoke up, this one darker and more insistent. _'If you don't show your sisters that you can handle yourself, how are they ever going to see you as anything other than a liability?'_

She shoved both of those little voices down somewhere deep that she couldn't hear them anymore. Then, she strode up the steps of the courthouse and went up to the floor where Assistant District Attorney Sykes was supposed to work.

"I have an appointment," she said, to the secretary, who greeted her with an impersonal smile.

"Name?" the secretary asked, and for a moment, Paige froze.

She had taken the precaution of glamouring into a new appearance before stepping out of that alley, and she certainly couldn't have her real name out there on record, especially since she planned on killing Sykes. After a moment, she thought of one that sounded appropriate.

"Christine Perry," she answered, and when the secretary glanced away, Paige muttered a very quick spell under her breath. The quick and dirty rhyme did its job, and the woman glanced down at the piece of paper in her hands, seeing something other than what was really written there.

"All right, Ms. Perry," she said, as she buzzed Paige through to Sykes' office, "Mr. Sykes will see you, now."

"Thanks," Paige said, softly, and then she stepped through the doors, into the lion's den.


	70. Chapter 70

**Author's Note: **Thanks a million to my amazing beta, **cruelangel101**, and my awesome readers.

**Chapter Seventy**

"Piper's on her way home," Prue said, clicking off her cell phone as she entered the kitchen. "How's the potion coming?"

"It smells like something died in here," Henry said, bluntly.

"That's the pig's feet," Andrea said, with a shrug. "You get used to it. It's almost done," she added, addressing Prue. "We just need some of Sykes' flesh. And believe me, I will be more than happy to help you collect."

"You two and Piper do not the Power of Three make," Andy argued, but Henry just shook his head, wearily.

"I've already tried that one," he told the other man. "As you might have noticed, it didn't work."

"You three have got to start acting like a team," Andy protested, undaunted, but Prue just shook her head.

"Trust me," she said, insistently. "It's better that Paige is out of the way, right now."

"Why do I even bother?" Andy asked no one in particular, throwing his hands up in the air.

"We've got this under control," Prue assured him. "Just concentrate on trying to sense Phoebe, okay?"

From the look on Andy's face, the argument was far from over, but he let it drop for the time being. He leaned back against the counter and closed his eyes as he focused on trying to find Phoebe.

"You said that Paige couldn't find Sykes by scrying?" Prue asked, and Henry shook his head. There was a weird expression on his face, and she frowned. "What's up?"

"It's Sykes," he said. "I swear that I've heard that name, before."

"He has a human cover," Andrea spoke up, from where she was standing at the counter, stirring the potion. "Some kind of cop, or-"

"Assistant District Attorney," Henry finished for her. "The new ADA is Aaron Sykes. He was only hired a few months ago. I've heard his name around the courthouse a couple of times."

"Sounds like our man," Prue said.

"Now, why would a demon pose as a lawyer?" Henry protested.

"Who knows why demons do what they do?" Prue asked, shooting a sideways look at Andrea and deciding that explaining the Cole situation was a bit much for someone they'd just met. "So, now that we know who our demon is-"

"Hold on just a minute, there," Henry interrupted her, quickly. "You can't go after someone like the Assistant District Attorney because you think he might be a demon."

"Of course he's our demon," Prue insisted.

"Doesn't matter," Henry shot back. "We're talking about a prominent public figure. You cannot just walk into the courthouse and chop a finger off to put in your vanquishing potion."

"Not to mention the logistics of actually vanquishing him," Andy muttered, from the other side of the kitchen.

"What?" Prue demanded. "The two of you are ganging up on us, now?"

"Trying to be the voice of reason," Henry argued. "Look, I am all in favor of you going after this demon. I just don't want to see any of you – you, included," he added to Piper, who'd just walked into the kitchen, "going to jail for murdering a man."

"Who's going to jail?" Piper asked, in confusion.

"You and your sister are, if you're not careful," Henry replied, and Prue sighed.

"Our demon is a big shot lawyer," she informed Piper. "Henry's worried about exposure."

"Why do you have to make me sound like the irrational one, here?" Henry complained. "All I'm saying is that you need to be smart about this."

"All right," Prue said, with an aggravated sigh, "what do you suggest?"

She knew how she sounded. But, she had three years experience fighting demons, plus her active powers. Henry had less than a year's experience, even counting his time in the future, and he was a mortal. And she didn't understand why he wouldn't listen to her.

"Sykes has chosen a human disguise, right?" Henry was saying, as she tuned back in. "And, that disguise can't just be part time. In order to be someone as important, as visible, as the ADA, his cover has to be airtight. There can't be a single hole."

"So?" Piper asked, impatiently, and Henry sighed, looking like he was fighting for patience, himself.

"Everything he does, everything he is, is open to the public eye," he went on. "He's got a paper trail. He's got an apartment, a post office box, a gym membership-"

"You're saying that we should ambush Sykes in the locker room?" Prue asked, sarcastically, getting a glare in return.

"Don't make me regret agreeing to help you," he muttered, under his breath. "What I'm saying," he went on, louder, "is that if Sykes wants to live a human life, than he should be punished like a human."

"But, he's not human," Piper protested.

"But, he can be," Andy spoke up, from where he was still leaning against the counter. "Power stripping potion."

"You want us to strip Sykes of his powers?" Prue asked, incredulously.

"Sounds like a good idea to me," Andy went on. "Then, Darryl and I will go in and arrest him for kidnapping, at the very least." He shot Andrea an apologetic look, and the woman nodded, slowly.

"I wish that kidnapping was the worst thing that he's done," she murmured. "But, George was kidnapped two weeks ago, and I don't know if he would have kept her alive for so long. And, Tansy-" She shook her head, helplessly. "I wish that my family had never heard of this demon," she said, softly.

"Don't we all," Prue said, sympathetically. "We're going to get your sisters back," she told Andrea, "or, I swear, they'll be avenged." Turning her attention back to Andy, she added, "Do you really think the power stripping potion is going to work?"

"I think it's the best shot you've got," Andy told her, seriously. "And once you strip him of his powers, make him human, then Darryl and I can take him down. All we need is evidence."

"Leave that one to me," Henry spoke up. "I'll get you everything you need to put him away for life."

"What are you going to do?" Andy asked, and he sounded suspicious.

"The less you know," Henry decided, "the better."

"Are you going to do something illegal?" Andy demanded, and Henry gave him a disarming smile.

"Like I said," he repeated, "the less you know about everything, the better."


End file.
